Chapter 4: External Threat and the Recyclers
Max's uncontrolled energy bursts and the episodes of healing with the purple tissue were no longer just a source of local confusion. For some time, Max had sensed the presence of black, windowless vans and men in suits with cold stares who were tracking him.
G.E.A.: The Cold Pursuit
One evening, as Max was heading home, he noticed three people waiting for him at the entrance of his apartment building. These were agents from the Global Energy Research Institute (G.E.A.). Their faces were expressionless; they saw Max not as a person, but as an anomaly to be captured.
The group leader, a gruff man holding a scientific tablet, spoke in a flat, digitized voice. "Max, you must come with us. The parasite form inside you does not belong to this reality. We must isolate and stabilize it. If you do not cooperate, we will be forced to harm you."
• T500 (in Max's mind, with disgust): How disgusting is human arrogance. Do they think I am a 'parasite'? I am the most flawless information form in this universe! Max, we must melt their arrogant brains.
• Max (internally, panicked): No! They are armed! We have to run!
Max used his telekinesis to push himself into the air and sprinted down the narrow alley next to the apartment. Behind him, energy waves from the G.E.A. agents' stun guns illuminated the street.
Cosmic Horror: The Recyclers
While Max was rapidly escaping the G.E.A. agents, he was forced to stop in an abandoned factory area in a deserted part of the city. In that instant, T500's inner voice emitted pure terror for the first time.
• T500 (Whispering in panic): No! Their scent... The Recyclers. Damn it, they're here! Max, run! Now!
From the shadows of the derelict factory, The Recyclers emerged. They looked nothing like the creatures in the cheap sci-fi movies Max watched. They were grotesque entities, dark and charred, constructed from human skeletons overlaid with bone, metal, and organs protruding at wrong angles. For them, T500 was an unbalanced waste that had violated the cosmic order and had to be destroyed.
One Recycler approached Max, speaking in a voice that was not human—it was static and guttural: "Parasite. Surrender. The balance is broken. The form must be recycled."
• Max (internally, trembling): What is this? What kind of nightmare is this?
• T500 (Straining Max's will): It's them! They want to capture me! Their order will destroy me! Max, give me control! Only I can fight them! I beg you!
Confrontation: Between Two Fires
Max was trapped between the G.E.A. agents, who wanted to make him a lab rat, and The Recyclers, who sought to destroy him and T500 at a molecular level.
The Recyclers attacked Max. Max realized he had no choice but to unleash the power within. As T500's screams and commands echoed in his mind, Max gathered his telekinetic strength.
Max's body glowed with a purple luminescence. Heavy metal pipes and rusty machine parts surrounding them lifted into the air. Max hurled this mass of metal at The Recyclers to crush them. The explosion shook the factory grounds.
Max emerged from the battle, exhausted and bloody. The Recyclers had been temporarily halted, but the G.E.A. agents were closing in. Max had survived with T500's help, but the victory came at a price: In the final moments of the fight, T500 had erased two valuable memories from Max's mind. The memories were gone, replaced by T500's cold, cosmic knowledge.