He was shoved into a dank, gray, empty cell by a guard, who checked him off a list. “Elemental 7560, welcome to you new home” the guard locked the cell’s barred door and walked off. E7560 was a battle hardened soldier,years ago he had been genetically engineered for the sole purpose of fighting and winning the worst war in human history, but nobody won. He sat in the corner of his cell day after day, night after night. Soon both day and night seemed irrelevant. He usually had a perfect memory but upon reflection it seemed he was unable to remember certain stretches of thought in this place. Suddenly, as if a light turned on, he remembered his basic water elemental training; given enough force and time water can destroy anything. He had done this so many times before it seemed too easy. He formed a small disk of water. It was strange it felt more difficult than before. He pushed the thought away and made the water disk spin faster and faster. The difficulty of this one simple task increased until the strain became too much for him and he slipped into unconsciousness.
He found himself in a dark corridor. The walls, floor and ceiling all glowed softly blue. There were corridors leading off in other directions, all 90 degree angles from the corridor he was currently in. It reminded him of the combat training simulations he was forced to go through during his “childhood”. He walked along the corridors aimlessly. Suddenly a guard turned a corner and approached him. He instinctively slipped into a different passage the guard passed by without seeing him. He turned a corner and saw a bright orange glowing lightning bolt laying on a pedestal. He picked up the bolt and it lost its glow and faded to black.

When he awoke he was astonished to find the lights in his cell had gone out, and to find the cell’s electronic lock disabled. He had no time to investigate the sudden outage. He ran through the prison facility’s depressing fluorescent lit halls letting luck be his guide. He ran past rows and rows of locked cells. He wondered why the others had not been released, and suddenly he was back in the glowing blue corridors. He wandered through them again and saw a similar pedestal but instead of a lightning bolt there was an orange padlock he touched it. It too lost its glow and faded to black. His mind returned to reality
All the cells’ locks were disabled. From everywhere at once people, other elementals, were running out of the cells. The elementals had not tasted freedom for more then five or six seconds when they collapsed. E7560 walked calmly to one of the soldiers he had fought in the war with, one of his brothers. There was no wound, no pulse. He had simply died. E7560 was unable to feel grief so he continued through the prison facility.
Ahead he saw a small nearly empty white room with a small raised silver disk on the floor with a computer console that was part of the wall. He knew this to be a teleportation pad. Pity the power has gone he thought. Yet again his mind returned to the corridors. He immediately found the glowing blue lightning bolt on a pedestal before him. As he touched it the bolt changed back to orange. When his mind returned to reality the teleport emitted a low hum. Now this is strange. Are the corridors simply visions or something else? However, he needed to escape. He didn’t know why, he just did. He stepped into the room and disappeared in a flash of light.
He vomited; he had never got used to teleportation. He examined his new surroundings, and found himself in the middle of a desert, and there was an array of simple tents nearby: they appeared to be derelict. Just over the horizon was a city, a gigantic, glistening, white jungle of glass and polished metal, shining in the sunrise. Its spires were reaching toward the bright orange sky, and the tallest tower, the Capital, was a glimmering white glassy obelisk. One could not ask for a more beautiful city. Paradigm, the city’s name just came to him as if he knew it all along. Why do I know the city’s name? I haven’t heard of it before now. The answer came as easily as the city’s name I am a technopath. Everything fit now. Realizations slammed in to his mind one after another. A technopath can mentally control machines and technology. So the corridor visions were my conciseness moving through the prison computer, but then what killed the others, did I? Also, what happened to the guards? Why didn’t they stop me? The realization of his previously unknown powers caused more questions. Now was the time for investigation.
Paradigm seemed to be calling him. It felt like that was where he needed to be. He walked toward the small abandoned tents. It appeared to be an abandoned refugee camp, and now that he was closer he saw boxes of personal items stacked in and around the tents. He entered one of the one person tents. Because of the amount of stuff shoved into corners and into boxes surrounding the tent, it was clear that an entire family had lived in this tent. He fingered his prison jumpsuit with displeasure. I look like an escapee in these clothes. Oh right I am. He opened a box labeled clothes and found a stack of clean laundry, and changed into a new set of clothes. He felt a small lump in the pocket. He reached in, and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, it was a brochure for Paradigm. The brochure exclaimed that Paradigm was perfect. The pinnacle of human achievement. E7560 knew too much about war to believe in human perfection. He had to investigate. As he entered the city the full beauty of the city delivered an almost physical blow. The towering glass spires reached high around him reflecting each other to create the illusion of cities within cities.
He wandered around Paradigm looking to understand how a perfect human city could exist. He ran into a passerby and asked, “Where is the nearest place of employment?” a question he wanted answered, because he expected to be here for a while. “Employment? No. Not in this city there is no need to work here. Paradigm has no need for a monetary system.” the citizen replied, then walked on his way. No economy would lead to a shortage of food, and other necessities. Not to mention a complete lack of the concept of ownership. In short the strong would take everything from the weak. It can’t work. The solution suddenly popped into his head. As another person passed by he reached into the person’s mind, and there it was proving his theory. A small machine attached to the brain, constantly sending and receiving information. It was a mind control device. His mind filled with intense hatred towards the usage of mind control.The hatred consumed him burning itself into his mind. He now knew what he had to do. He knew his purpose. He tracked the incoming information back to the center of the city. He looked in that direction and saw the Capital, the tallest building in the city.
Before long he reached the Capital, and found himself facing large front doors. I’d better turn back an plan a more covert way to enter the building. E7560 made an attempt to turn around, but found himself always turning back to the Capital. This is strange, this must be a genetically programmed response to seeing the Capital. Nowhere to go but forward, but maybe I can disable the security system. He walked up to the doors and put his hand on the wall, and felt for the security system that must be there. He had found it. He moved his consciousness into the security system.

This security system looked similar to the prison’s, but the blue glow was now a deep red-purple. The passages that were at 90 degree angles, in the prison computer, were now more acute, and in greater number. He began wandering down passages at random as before. It wasn’t long before he came across a guard carrying a glowing baton. This time, there being no passages to duck into, E7560 let his combat instincts take over. He disarmed the guard and intended on knocking him out with the baton. What he didn’t expect is the guard to shatter into a million tiny fragments upon impact with the glowing device. The glowing walls turned bright red and started flashing, alarms rang throughout the visualized computer construct. He was swarmed by guards and quickly overtaken.

When his consciousness was forcibly returned to his body, when he opened his eyes he was blinded by a bright incandescent light, when his eyes adjusted he found himself in a circle of light chained to a chair. Just barely visible in the dim light was a very old man, at least 50 or 60 years old. When E7560 noticed him he instantly knew this old man must be the creator of this city.
“I am, as you probably have guessed, the creator of this perfect city, Paradigm.” The Creator paused for a moment, “You have been a thorn in my side for sometime now, do you have any idea how hard it its to kill you, a person how was specifically created to undermine my control?” The Creator paused again “Well. I think that I won’t have nearly as much trouble now”
“What are you talking about!? Specifically created?!” E7560 exclaimed in confusion
“Are you suggesting that you don’t know how you came to be, how you were given purpose?” The Creator sighed “Well I would never kill a person without them knowing why it is necessary, so I’ll start at the beginning. at the facility where you were ‘born’ and raised to fight the War, there was a genetic engineer who was too nosy for his own good and overreacted to what he found: the plans for this city and the control devices that make it possible. He made you, he designed you to destroy what he had discovered.”
Rage and hate burned through E7560 once again as mind control was mentioned “Creating a person to end oppression and control is not an overreaction. If it was my choice I would have DESTROYED the designs my self!”
The hatred consumed him as he broke the chains binding him to the chair and leaped at The Creator. E7560 bounced of the invisible wall and fell to the floor. The pain he then felt was worse then it should have been, it felt as though he had been electrocuted as well as having hit a wall.
“Do you understand now? The engineer took away your choice, you are no more free then the citizens of this city.”
“NO! I AM FREE!”
A blinding blue shock wave of psychic energy blasted from E7560 and blanketed the entire globe. Both he and The Creator were thrown to the ground by the force of the blast. E7560 opened his eyes, the walls in the corner of the room had been blown outward into the streets, allowing sunlight to stream into the room revealing masses of destroyed computer banks. The Creator lay a foot from where he originally stood blood leaking from his head. E7560 felt as though a cage that had locked off a part of his mind away was suddenly removed. He looked out into the once beautiful city and what he saw horrified him. Instead of the rejoicing he had expected from the newly freed people he saw rioting in the streets. People killing each other for anything the other had that they had not. The city was consumed in the violent flames of human nature.
What have I done? Have I destroyed what kept humanity from killing itself? Is it possible that through attempting to save humanity I have doomed it to destruction? If this is true then I am the murderer of an entire species, I have committed genocide. I don’t deserve to live.
He walked to the edge of the building looking out in to the burning and rioting city. Consumed by guilt and despair E7560 stepped off the edge. His last words, as he fell, cursed the entirety of reality, and human nature itself.