Created: SOULQUEST: In Search of Humanity, #1

PART 1

ONE

Ever since she became the first female Green Beret soldier in 2020, Asha Hawkins became a scrutinized enigma for those in the highest echelons of government and industry. I know her in a more personal way. Those who are not familiar with me ask who I am. I like that. It sounds more meaningful than, What are you? Asha gave me the official name, C 01 Y 2 R 1 I 0 X , or Cyrix without the numbers. She affectionately called me Cy ...always.

I am a HIR, a Human Interactive Robot. Asha is—was—my recreator. I say was because she is no longer. When Asha created me, she designed me with an emotional soul. That’s what she called it anyway. Although I am programmed to retain all that I have ever experienced, I will take this time to tell the story of our last days together and the noteworthy events leading up to them. It all happened so fast with the full cause and effect spectrum in action.

My motive to chronicle these events? My feelings and emotions? When my creator, Ash, as I called her, vanished into thin air on the night of July 4th, 2025, I was left behind...soul searching for answers. I had questions. A lot of them. If I have a soul, then why was I left behind? I am left to struggle with resolving this internal, spiritual, and emotional conflict; however, this internal clash within my soul is surpassed only by my instinctive survival mode, another personal attribute in what is currently a post-apocalyptic world full of chaos.

Give justice to the poor and orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people.

Sergeant First Class Asha Hawkins used these words from the book of Psalm and lived them. I would have expected nothing less from the first woman Green Beret soldier.

Two days before she disappeared, the city once known as New Orleans was obliterated from the face of the earth by an unknow cause. Some say it was an enemy secret weapon of mass destruction. Others believe that it was a supernatural rain of fire and brimstone from the heavens. Either way.

Ash said, I knew this time would come. She was in deep thought. I—I’m just not sure that when it is time for me to leave this earth, if you will be with me.  She expressed this with sadness. Well, her disappearance and my existence confirmed her fear. I’m still here.

This all happened while Ash, me, and our four-legged companion, Tag, watched the night sky. Our location was one of the few places left in America where one could catch a glimpse of the open sky not covered by smoke, haze, or dark clouds. We were about fifty meters from the entrance to a top-secret hidden bunker located in the Badlands of South Dakota. A beautiful night. Millions-of-stars, the chilled air, quiet, peaceful.

Ash and I always stayed warm even in the worse conditions because of our built-in environmental enhancements. Tag was equipped with certain bionic enhancements as well. All it took for any of us to control our environment was a flick of a switch.

Ash wore a black T-shirt, Army fatigues, and a pair of Waterproof Newton Ridge hiking shoes. Her weapon of choice, a SR-15 E3 CQB, was slung across her back. Her carbine was always equipped with a Nightforce scope. Weighing just over six pounds, she liked the light feel of it along with the fact that it had a point target effective range of five hundred meters.

Copying her, I slung my FN SCAR-H/MK17 assault weapon across my back as well. That was the weapon she had assigned me.

It was a habit for Ash to find solitude and admire God’s craftsmanship, as she called it. Her beautiful eyes always reflected contentment during these moments.

I have looked into her eyes many times, during peace and during combat. They reflected intensity in battle and a settled ease when calm. Quite the contrast.

Using a human idiom, I said, A penny for your thoughts.

Ash smiled that sweet smile, stared right at me, and said, I am praying for you.

Praying for me? Why?

Because. I want you to go where I am about to go. I think about your questions all the time. How you want to go anywhere I go.

That’s true, I assured her. You are my companion, my sister-in-arms. Most of all, you are my creator.

After I said that last part, she gave me a surprised look as if she had never considered such an idea. It had been a week before when Ash said to me, If things continue to go the way they are, don’t be surprised if I vanish.

Vanish?

Yes, to meet God. I would be caught up together with many other people in the clouds and disappear.

My circuitry system received the data and I tried to analyze what she had said. It did not register. So, I asked, What do you mean by meeting God? 

I believe the time has come for the believers to meet with our Creator.

My circuits surged again as I analyzed. You were created? You are a human, no?

Yes, I am. God created us...humans.

You have not told me about God before. Who is he or she? Have we ever met?

Her eyes became sad. A tear ran down her cheek that she wiped away. Ash rarely cries. I should have spoken to you about God before. God created the world and everything in it. Then evil and sin entered through mankind and God sent his Son, Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins.

My processors were analyzing the data, but I was not conceptualizing her words. You should run a diagnostic on me because the data you are giving me is not processing. I may have a dysfunction.

You are not dysfunctional. It is a hard concept to process. It is a matter of the human soul... of unconditional love... like the love I have for you. Cy, I formed you with materials from this planet Earth, from its soil. I formulated a substance that gave you the breath of life. I did all I could to try and place into you... a living soul. Bu—but I am not God. I never was.

That’s when it hit me. So, if you vanish, I will not be going with you? What about Tag?

She continued to stare and said, Um, do you know what? You just gave me an idea. Come on. We have work to do.

I remember a story Asha told me a long time ago. I decided to ask her about it. Now seemed to be a suitable time.

Ash, do you remember when you told me about the time you thought you saw God or an angel or something?

Yes, I remember. It was during my coma. I felt like I was in a different place for real, but it wasn’t heaven, or even a paradise, I don’t think. It may have been a dream or something.

You recalled it quite vividly, as if you actually lived it.

It was so real. The guy I was with in the dream said that I was actually in the Quantum Zone. Ha. Have you ever heard of that before?

Well, no, not the way you described it. But anyway, back to my question about you seeing God.

Oh, sorry. Yes. What do you want to know?

I’d like to know what you actually saw and if you have the same thoughts back then as you do now."

Okay. I was with this guy; his name was David. He was a Major in the Army and he told me that he was also in a coma. That we were in the Quantum Zone. Anyway, he was taking me to a place that was supposed to send me back to reality. But, I had to fight a demonic force first to get there because they, the demons, were guarding the entrance.

Demons?

Yes, evil beings who were once angels, but they rebelled along with Satan and there was a big battle in the heavens.

It all sounded like a fairy tale to me at the time she first told me this story, but now I wanted to know more. Go on, please.

So, David and I were walking towards the place where I was to do battle when Dave stopped suddenly and stretched out his arm to stop me. ‘What is it?’ I asked.

He said, ‘Kneel down. Quick!

I did not know why but I complied. We were both on one knee and when I looked at him, he was staring wide-eyed straight ahead as if he were looking at something spectacular. I did not see anything. Just when I was ready to ask him what was wrong, a bright light flashed in front of me, which caused me to raise my arm over my eyes like a shield. For the moment, the light that emitted from whatever Dave was staring at blinded me.

I peeked over Dave’s way again and his head was bowed low. I followed suite, not knowing what else to do.

Then, a hand touched my head so I slowly looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen with a golden belt around his waist. It—it was amazing! I was in a trance! The image before me became etched in my mind like a photograph. His body was the color of topaz and his face was like lightning. I mean, his eyes were like flaming torches. His arms, and legs gleamed like polished bronze. His voice sounded like a great multitude of people. My numb feeling of being totally freaked out is an understatement.

Dave and I gazed at this vision for some time it seemed. Neither of us had any strength, as if we were completely helpless. When the man that looked like God began speaking, I fell flat to the ground, face buried in my hands. Then his hand reached down and touched me to lift me to my feet. I was standing—or floating—with no will power of my own.

Then I heard his voice say, ‘Asha Hawkins, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, for I have been sent to you with a message.’ My whole body was trembling, I was speechless, and could hardly breathe.

He continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Asha. Peace! Be strong now; be strong.

For some reason, an old verse from the book of Samuel came to me. I heard myself quote the words, ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening.

So, he said, ‘Do you know why I have come? Soon you will fight against forces of evil but you will go back to earth to complete your mission. Regardless of what may come, stay close to what is written in the Book of Truth.

Then just like that, he was gone. I was standing there next to Dave, dumbfounded...speechless. He looked at me and smiled. Okay, if you had any doubts before..."

I didn’t...really!

That’s quite a story, Ash, I told her. You think it was God?

I’m not sure.

I was following her back towards the bunker entrance when, to my astonishment, she was no longer visible. Ash? Where did you go? Are you hiding from me? Asha Hawkins?

I did not see her anywhere. That is when I knew. I said, Oh Ash. You are gone! Tag swept past me looking around the perimeter, sniffing here and sniffing there. He was as mystified as I was. 

But our search was unsuccessful. My tracking apparatus is impeccable, but nothing. Even Tag, who was one of the best tracking dogs, went no further than a tight circle from where she was last seen.

But it was to no avail. She was gone. I sat down to contemplate. I switched on my persistent memory capability. Everything I was about to say, do, or think, along with all previous data would now be recorded for future accessibility.

Asha Hawkins

TWO

ASHA HAWKINS WAS SOME kind of special—the first woman to earn a Green Beret. I mean, what human would pass up the chance to attend the Military Academy at West Point to enlist into the Army? That is what Ash did. She was told that the opportunity would come for her to go through the Special Forces Qualification course after she graduated, but she did not want to wait four years, She wanted to be a Green Beret immediately. She said, The world needs my kind now, not four years from now. Her tenacity was admired by her father, but not her decision. In the end though, he was not going to discourage her.

The quest to be the first woman Green Beret soldier did not come without a cost. The year was 2020, six months after graduating high school.

At the time of her high school graduation, she was in the Tennessee National Guard and had already attended Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. She was able to attend during the extended Spring break, prolonged by the COVID-19 virus. 

Her real dream was to become an elite member of the Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha, or ODA, team. Asha was well aware that if she were able to accomplish this feat, she would be the first female to have done so. I have always wanted to be like my dad, she told me.

Following her graduation ceremony, Ash requested and was accepted to the Special Forces qualification course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There seemed little doubt that she had some help from her father who had high connections and was able to pull some strings, as she phrased it.

Ash began with the initial 24-day assessment screening program. Mastering the basic military skills, which her father had already taught her, came easy for her and she passed everything. Her evaluation was approved by Special Forces supervisors for her to continue. 

She then entered Phase II of the qualification course that included the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) portion. This particular phase had started with a quarantine because the coronavirus had eliminated 75% of the 110 students who tested positive. Ash tested negative, so she was able to move on.

But, in Phase IV, she was in the Robin Sage training phase that served as a realistic test of leading Indigenous people into combat and sabotage operations. This portion stopped her cold, not just with the program... but with her life. It almost became her final undoing...from life on earth.

She