- The Driven Machine -

Driver's Hunt
  What the hell was happening to me?
  "This happens to all the bleeders, Suil. You needn't be worried." Doctor Ow was here, which was reassuring. He hadn't been around recently, since the number of workers that had been hurt by the Machine was on the rise. It's always that way when we near another world. The Machine doesn't like having to work for us, and so when Driver has us turn it up it takes its anger out on us workers. If only it knew who was really behind this - as much as the Driver frightens me, I don't think he could really stand up against the machine. Doc says that it's more powerful, and from what I've seen I can believe it.
  Doc was still talking. "You haven't been outside - well, you have but you weren't aware of it. Driver's men came through and collected all the bleeders. They left me alone - I guess they're just used to me. Besides, it wouldn't be hard for the Driver to figure it out, if I'm the one he needs."
  I had no clue what he was talking about, but I didn't particularly want to hear more, so I let it go. I still needed to figure out what was happening to me.
  "You're right, you're right - I'm sorry, I do tend to stray from the point at times. This is new to you, so I'll explain. Our world is coming closer to the target world, and those who have hosts are starting to feel the effects. On occasion, you can travel to the other world, and your mind can be in the body of your host. Your host's mind comes back here. If you were in the custody of the Driver, he would interrogate your host until he knew if he was of any use in finding what the Driver wants."
  My doubts about Doc taking care of me seemed rather stupid just then. I'm sure the Driver wouldn't have made my life - or that of my host's - any easier. It began to annoy me that the Driver would, time and time again, subject us to this sort of thing. As though having to tend to the Machine wasn't bad enough. Not that we could stop him, of course. Still, the question remained: What was it, exactly, that the Driver wanted from all these worlds?
  The Doctor didn't like that question at all. "I know the answer." he started. "If he suspected I knew, he'd have me killed, no matter how useful I am at keeping the workers alive. So it's very important that you not say anything."
  As though I was going to step out onto the street and get captured just to tell the guards that.
  "Sorry Suil, I should be more trusting. You're in this with me now too. The Driver wants to live forever, like all of his people. There aren't many of them, and for some reason they can't make more. Or maybe they just don't want to - after all, if they could reproduce, then they could be replaced. I don't know what their reason is, but they long ago threw out any idea of morality or conscience in completing their goal. Each of driver's people has a small colony of workers, like us, and each has their own Machine. They - converge upon a world, and pick out all those who bleed so they can find whatever it is that keeps them alive. Usually, it's some creature of that world in particular that they're looking for. Certain people are not quite like others, they have a potential within them. There are only a few on each world, but there always seems to be enough for the Drivers. Hmph - occasionally I think...."
  Doc just shook his head at that point. "It's not important. What is important is to stop it. I'm not sure where I got the courage to do this, or where the idea came from, but I'm tired of the Driver using us. We don't own our own lives, Suil! Think of that! There was a time when there were no Driver! Where the Machine didn't exist! Workers like you and I would sit underneath skies that we can now only see through the eyes of our hosts, and not have any cares at all. But now we live or die on the whim of a sadistic overlord, or a psychotic Machine."
  Doc's words frightened me more than I had been before - mainly because he was right. What kind of life was this? I hadn't ever thought about it before - everything I knew was in this habitat - but I've seen the other world, through the eyes of my host. He certainly didn't seem to be suffering under any constraints. Of course, I couldn't make sense of anything in that world. I understood if someone was speaking to me, but it seems as though anything I said was garbage.
  I asked Doc about it yesterday. "It's simple, really - the closer you get to the other world, the more you'll sync with your host when you switch places. From this far away, for instance, you're close enough so that you gain his understanding of what people say, but we're not near enough to your host's world for you to know how to speak his language. So when you're there, you speak in our tongue, which makes no sense to anyone. You're not taking my advice, are you?"
  No, I hadn't taken his advice. The kind Doctor had warned me ahead of time that I might cross over to the other world. He had specifically instructed me to just sit still and not do anything, at least not at first. That hadn't worked, of course - I was too disoriented to even realize what was going on. I couldn't even walk, as I rather painfully discovered. I guess more time will have to pass before I can figure these things out.
  Dr. Ow hadn't been able to stay for long - there were too many people who needed his attention, and he was gone almost as quickly as he had appeared. But he had come back later, looking significantly less composed than before.
  "Have you had any spells recently?" he asked of me. That's what he called it when I crossed over, either dreaming or awake. Spells, like fainting spells or spells of diziness. I suppose it was an apt name. I hadn't though.
  Doc didn't seem very relieved. "There's a problem." he explained. "Driver's men have been agitated all day, and I didn't figure out why until recently. There's been no announcement from Driver himself, but there's rumors going around that he can't find his target with the workers he has captured. Do you know what this means?"
  A sinking feeling in my stomach told me I did.
  "You've got to be the one he's looking for. Driver needs to use you to get whomever it is he's going after. I suspect the guards may come for me - don't try to stop them. I shouldn't be gone for long anyhow - I know that I'm not the one Driver needs - My host is the same as it always is."
  Mainly to keep my mind off of what was going to happen when the Driver caught up with me, I asked Ow who his host was.
  The Doctor smiled. "It's the same as always, like I said. You don't see it here, of course, but on many other worlds, there aren't Drivers, and rules aren't enforced as much as they are here. You don't die for breaking them. Usually, they put you away. I'm always someone who's in a room, sometimes metal and sometimes padded. People come and go but I am never allowed to leave. So, you see, I'm not of any use to the Driver. The Driver keeps me around because I help keep the workers from dying. Too few workers, and he wouldn't be able to find who he's looking for. So I guess you could say he needs me, at least until they have another batch of workers grown and can afford to replace me. I'm more curious about your host - since it's not me that the Driver's looking for, and I'm fairly certain that there aren't any other workers hiding, you've got to be someone important. Rather, your host must know someone important.
  So the Driver was going to get to me after all. No doubt I'd be tortured for not turning myself in the moment I started to bleed. Well, it wasn't as though I hadn't tried, but the good Doctor had other ideas. Oh well, I couldn't really blame him for trying to save me. I mean, what else could we do?
  "Well, there is something we can do - I need you to switch places with your host. I have to find out what it is about him that's so important. There's a possibility he doesn't know anyone - it's rare, but there have been a few times where the Drivers haven't been able to find their target, simply because not enough workers were like those on the target world. If that's the case, I can simply tell the Driver's men that I investigated it and found nothing."
  How was I supposed to switch places? It wasn't as though I had control over it. It just... happened.
  The doctor had been rummaging through one of his cabinets when I asked him how I was supposed to do it. He didn't answer. I found out why when he produced a sealed vial of liquid.
  I hate injections! He knows that, too - but I suppose it's the only way.
  "I'm sorry Suil, I know nobody likes these things." Doc was getting the Needler set up. "But there's not time for me to try anything else. This material will put you in a state where you will be suggestive to commands. I can have you switch then. We'll only have to do this once, I promise - after that I should be able to put you in the suggestive state at any point."
  It wasn't as though I had much choice in the matter. I just closed my eyes and clenched my teeth and waited for the Needler to start.
  My field of vision was bright red as the Needler stuck into my neck. I wanted to scream, I wanted to scream so badly - my hands were tearing at the floor and I wanted it to stop. God, I hate this, how much longer does the Needler need? Make it stop,make it stop, make -- --
  "What is her name?"
  It took me a few moments to realize that I was back in Doc's operating room. He seemed disappointed when he realized that my host and I had changed back. I asked what he learned.
  "Only that your host apparently knows someone else who's 'dreaming' of this world as well."
  Sarah. Her name's Sarah.
  Ow seemed delighted. "Ah, why thank you! I had forgotten that you might have some valuable information from their world as well. Tell me all that you can."
  So I told him as much as I could remember about what had happened. It was odd, I was starting to forget. The doctor wrote everything down in his note-book, which is good because otherwise it would have left me like any other dream. It already seemed as though I had imagined the whole thing.
  "This makes my task much easier." Ow was packing his things into some sort of traveling bag while he talked. "But still not more desirable. I've got to go see the Driver himself, and get permission to interview the guards and workers to find out who the hosts are. If nobody's host is this 'Sarah' person, than we know it's you who the Driver needs to go through.
  What about the other person? I had forgotten his name.
  "Dante? There doesn't seem to be any reason to suspect he's a host, now does there?"
  Well, no, but I still had a feeling about it.
  "Okay, I'll humor you just this once. I'm going out. If you have any more spells, be sure to write them down as soon as you and your host are back in the proper places." The doctor tore out a few sheets of his note-book and placed them on the floor near me, along with a writer.
  The Doctor was gone before I could remind him that I couldn't write, and the only reason that I was able to even keep a journal was because he had given me a voice-keeper. I figured I'd use that.
  It didn't really matter anyway, the good doctor never did get to see my notes.
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