BioShock Rapture

Sofia looked at her watch—Simon Wales, the most enthusiastic of her highly placed converts, should be coming for his visitation now. Perfect—and no coincidence. The true body of Rapture had planned it all. The body is truth; truth is in the body.

Would Simon have the courage to do as she asked? Many times he’d claimed he would do anything … anything … she asked of him. Today that claim would be tested.

She arrived at her cell, leaving the door open, in keeping with her special privileges—the same privileges that made it possible for her to receive Simon Wales here. He arrived in under a minute, looking fatigued but resolute.

“Dr. Lamb!” His eyes seemed feverish; he was dressed in a priest’s garb, she noticed, complete with collar, and he’d grown out his beard. The butterfly-shaped broach he wore clipped to his shirt pocket was a bit out of place—but it signified that he had emerged from the cocoon to become one of Lamb’s flock. A flock of butterflies—but butterflies with wings of razor-sharp steel.

“Have you become a priest, Simon?” Sofia asked, glancing up the corridor toward the other cells.

“I’m a priest of your church, Dr. Lamb,” he said hoarsely. He ducked his head in submission to her.

“Then you are ready to do anything for the cause of the body?”

His head snapped up, his eyes glinting hotly, his hands clutching and fisting. “I am!”

“The day has come! I cannot wait any longer. Thinking about Eleanor … and all that I’ve had to do here … I simply can’t wait another moment.”

“But—Sinclair is here; I saw him go into the Persephone control tower! Shouldn’t we wait till he’s gone home?”

“It doesn’t matter. Warden Weir will send him out at the first sign of trouble.” She smiled. “The warden too awaits my signal.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You’ll take this pass from me.” She took it from around her neck and hung it over his. “Go to the tower; show the camera the pass. They’ll unlock the tower. You’ll step inside and shoot the guards there—then throw the Emergency Cell Unlock switch … we’ve already discussed its whereabouts!”

“I remember!” he said, licking his lips.

“When the cell doors pop open—and the cellblock doors with them—you’ll get on the public address system and announce, ‘The butterfly is taking wing!’ That’ll be the signal—”

His voice quivered with hushed excitement as he said, “Yes—oh thank God—the signal to set you free!”

“I will take Persephone over—but I won’t leave here immediately, till we have complete control of the area. We’ll send for our followers to surround the area and protect us. When the time comes, I’ll go to find Eleanor. Meanwhile—this place will change from being my jail to being my fortress.”

“And the gun?”

“The gun you’ll need is hidden in the utilities locker. You remember the combination?”

“I do!”

She squeezed his hand. “Then go!”

He turned and rushed from the cell, showing not a flicker of hesitation. He would either die in the control tower—or he would do the job. Simon was no gunman—but he’d been practicing, as per her orders, and with a little luck and the element of surprise …

Sofia waited tensely on the edge of her bunk, wringing her hands. Thinking about Eleanor.

Within ten minutes, the other cell doors suddenly clanged open, released from within the tower. A uniformed Persephone guard looked around in confusion. “What the hell is going on?”

Simon’s voice boomed from the Persephone public address: “The butterfly takes wing! You know what to do! The butterfly takes wing!”

The prisoners responded with the gleeful howls of men suddenly set free, their long pent-up fury expanding like a released spring.

She listened to the scuffling turmoil as the prisoners rushed from their cells and swarmed over the guards. She winced as shots were fired—but Sinclair’s prison constables were quickly overwhelmed. There was some shouting, hooting, two more gunshots—screams. Inarticulate cries of triumph. An alarm warbled—and suddenly cut off.

Sofia took a deep breath and stood up, deciding it was safe to come out of her cell. She stepped into the corridor—was met by Simon Wales, who was grinning with wolfish delight as he rushed up to her. A pistol smoked in his right hand; his left hand was red with blood.

“We have Persephone!” he crowed. “Sinclair has fled, the guards with him—the ones we didn’t kill! Weir is still here, but he says he’ll take your orders! It’s all yours, Dr. Lamb! You’re in control of Persephone!”

Hephaestus

1957

Bill McDonagh hummed along to the Andrews Sisters song playing over the PA system as he tightened the salinity sieve. The song suddenly switched off, replaced by Andrew Ryan’s sonorous voice—one of Ryan’s canned speeches.