Dante VI Canto XX Scene III

 Canto XX

Fifth Terrace; Prodigal

Scene III

“It does not make sense, or maybe it does. Hugh Capet may be inserted in to penetrate the prison unlike myself, who was captured.” Dante was baffled by the recent developments. “But ---”

“Poet, I did some probing of mine on the others while you were questioned by Hugh Capet. Not all of them were inserts like you assumed. Hugh Capet and Nicholas with one other named Peter were inserted into the program but the other six were souls trapped here. They were rescued in some logical approach by the trio and brought to where we were. The nine of them were linked to in that circle and not laid down like the others we say earlier. They were lying prone facedown to blend in with the scene to avoid any detection by the program.”

“Hugh Capet and his other two friends were here to unravel the program, and those they rescued were other programmers; the original ones with the Supreme Leader but imprisoned here.  They were all one team, and when we linked in, they tried to download my data. I gave them the wrong ones while I did the reversal on them. They are good but I am better in the encryption and link protocols. It was a small challenge and I overrode their attempts.”

“So, he knew. All about this place. We could have worked together.” Dante explored his options. “I --- “

“Poet, you don’t understand well, when it comes to such an issue. Hugh Capet was not one of us. He is part of the team that developed this program with the Supreme Leader before he was imprisoned here. Or rather he escaped into it. He has been trying to get out of it to take back control.”

“I am ---confused.” Dante sighed.

“You are and now we are back to where we started. We will continue on our quest, and complete it. And we will find Beatrice.” Virgil used the bait on Dante. “She is waiting for you.”

Dante did not say anything but soon Virgil motioned for him to move. It was then he saw Hugh Capet approaching them. He was in a rush running towards Dante.

“Help me!” Hugh Capet called out and then Dante saw the threat that was to befall the other. Two harpies were in pursuit of him then. Dante looked to anything he could use but there was nothing there; only dust and hard surfaces. Suddenly the two harpies backed out when the orb appeared once more. It hovered before the two pursuing harpies and emitted the sonar blast at it. The two harpies retreated and Hugh Capet stood before Dante.

“Thank you. We did not make it far. Nicholas was snatched and so was Peter. We tried to evade the harpies but it did not work.” Hugh Capet was heaving in deep breaths then as if he was alive, and not a soul there.

“We helped you and now you can leave us alone.” It was Virgil who confronted Hugh Capet. “I don’t trust you. I don’t like you. And that is a manner of speech from the souls, but in our world of construct, you are a rogue program,”

“I --- I had no choice. I tried to evade them, but we failed.” Hugh Capet declared his innocence. “We have to get clear. More will come for us.”

“You will go your way and we ours. It’s the logical move.” Virgil glared at Hugh Capet but Dante intervened.

“He knows the program better than us. We may need him.” Dante looked at Hugh Capet. “Betray us, and I won’t stop him from terminating you.”

The three of them moved on and soon they stopped at a new location. Virgil stood a distance away while Dante crouched next to Hugh Capet.

“My designated name is Hugh Capet. My real name is Fabricius. I was one of the core team that designed this program on the order of the Supreme Leader. We were told to design something that the one imprisoned will assume that they are dead, and given the schematic. It was going well until we were exposed to the Empire.”

“Exposed? Empire?” Dante asked.

“Yes, exposed by one named Virgil. He was the creator of the VIRGIL program.” Fabricius motioned to Virgil. “We were ---”

Fabricius stopped there and then continued.

“Let me begin from the start. The Federation was then new; its early stages of formation. We were all together; The states of Bouai, Lille, Ghent, and Bruges. We were upset at the Empire for destroying our states with their influences. We have lost a lot but among us were the best brains in the development of artificial intelligence. The Supreme Leader then started the revolution, and I was one of the earliest to be in.”

“It was the Flemish Conflict? That was over two decades when it happened.” Dante recalled the split from the Empire and the war erupted.

“Yes, two decades ago. It sparked off the creation of the Federation and the subsequent war with the Empire till today.”

“Who are you?” Dante asked.

“I was the child of a commoner --- a butcher to be exact but later was given the best of education by the Academy for the Gifted. I was much younger then but brilliant in the works of virtual creation. I created the Ancient Greece World. The same one ---”

“I attended that World when I was a teenager. I ---” Dante recalled the virtual world than in Florence.

“Yes, you could interact with Homer, Aristotle, and even Plato to discuss your view of life and death. It was the beginning of my life too.” The one named Fabricius smiled. “There was where I begin with all was available to be and spent it all. I was thus named the Prodigal Son. It was the yet-to-be Supreme Leader who saw my brilliance and gave me more to do my dream works. I was intrigued by the concept of life and death and delved ---”

“You are a reader of that age.” Dante cut in.

“Yes, like yourself, I read Dante’s poems too.” Fabricius smiled. “It was --- revealing then, although we all knew Hell and Heaven by the teaching of our faith but not Purgatory. With the support of the Supreme Leader who was my adopted guardian, I started my new creation. I have a team with me. Initially, we created Hell as a virtual world to explore the punishment of sins. It was a work of geniuses; none of the test subjects knew they were in a virtual world. I expanded it to the prisoners of war than as a form of torment or rather then it was a private war of mine; we all lost friends and kins in the war. Charles; is the one they called Supreme Leader then expanded the program. I did not fully agree to it but he said it was needed. Hell was getting crowded.”

“It became confusing and demented. I was like the Devil incarnated doing the world then. I wanted to stop but Charles; he was so engrossed in it. You may have met him on the last terrace. It was pride, ---no, avarice too you. I was his prodigal son. It came to a stop when Charles was overthrown, and the new team took over. We were taken off it and imprisoned. It was to be the new working program of the one named the Doctor; surgical precision sliced of the mind to terminate the opposition. He was an advocate of Freud that dreams are our soul.”

“I escaped with the team but had nowhere to go. Like the Prodigal Son, I returned to the nesting. I inserted myself into the program and tried to shut it down but to do so, I need to reach the end of Purgatory. I found it had expanded to more than prisoners of war from the Empire but also on the Federation too. Those who opposed the new Supreme Leader or the Doctor are in here.”

“The Prodigal Son? Like in the --- You were sacrificed--- You are arrogant to call yourself the ‘Son’ here for you are the bastard who created this world.” Dante was furious.

“Maybe I was but the program was mine. And now someone named the Doctor has taken over my child.” Fabricius admitted his anger then.

“What of Virgil?” Dante asked. “And who is the Doctor?”

It was then loud thunderous noise reverted through the place, shaking the very foundation which Dante was standing on.

“It’s happening.”