-Three years ago-
The halls of basement level five were fairly quiet that night. The assistants and nurses had just finished their hourly rounds and would not be due back in this area for quite some time. If there were ever a good time to act, it would be now.
All the lights were off, the only source now being the faint glow of the screen attached to the cryogenic sleeping pod in the center of the room upon which the vital stats of the girl occupying it were displayed.
193713-01
Destrillian Prototype # 000-000-008
Emma Marie Johnson
Vacker Påsklilja
Sub-outlet 4222a
Age: 16 years: 3 months: 5 days: 1 hours: 31 minutes: 42 seconds
Hyper-rest 20 mode
Normal RAM
Life Level 5
Dr. Natasha Nedews ext. 11
Log: 20
“Emma. Emma dear. Wake up, please!” came the awkward tones of the female scientist’s accent. Emma slowly came into consciousness at the urging of her guardian.
‘Cause that’s what she was; my guardian.
“Na…Natasha? Where am I?” She couldn’t feel the familiar slime that consisted of the inside of her pod. Instead she was stretched out upon something hard, and cold. Boy was it ever cold. Was she lying on the floor?
Gentle hands hurriedly made their way all over her body, the ruff, starchy texture of a towel dragging beneath them.
“There we go, all clean now. Come on, get up now my darling. We need to be hurrying.”
Emma had the slight sensation of something looping under each arm and gingerly pulling her up. First to a sitting position and then, as something larger and warm pressed up against her her, to her feet. She opened her eyes a tiny crack to see Natasha standing next to her, supporting the girl with an arm around the waist.
“What’s happening, Natasha?” the teenage girl mumbled sleepily to her only friend. She felt herself being lowered into a chair.
Dr. Nedews hurriedly wrapped a yellow robe, her approved recreation room attire, around her charge. As she placed the girl’s arms through the sleeves and tied it tight she replied,
“Well…we have a test. Yes, we are going to have a special test tonight.”
Young blue eyes looked up into the much older pair of her assigned scientist’s.
“What kind of test?”
The woman smiled.
“It is a surprise. Don’t you be worrying about it, okay? I am sure you will do very well. Can you stand?”
It took a bit of stumbling and teetering, but Emma was able to stand up. Natasha hurriedly finished fastening the ties on the robe then quickly began folding the bottom up and the sleeves back. After turning and grabbing a white heap of cloth off of a second chair in the room, she put it around the young specimen’s shoulders, revealing it to be a lab coat identical to hers.
“What’s with this?” Emma asked.
Natasha smiled.
“All part of the test. Come now, let us be going.”
When I look back now three years later I finally realize what she was trying to do. I wish she had told me then, though. Maybe things would be different now…
The older woman led the young girl out into the dark corridor. She pulled her to the left, which Emma found to be rather strange since to get to the testing facilities they normally had to go right. But she didn’t bother asking, she was far too tired. Besides, Natasha was leading the way, so there was probably a very good reason.
They continued on in the darkness slowly, the scientist pulling her this way and that, as if she were trying to avoid something. Emma found herself wondering if they were trying to run away from something, but Natasha would only hush her. As they went, Emma could sense the life energy of her fellow Destrillians in their own cryogenic pods. All of them were asleep. Emma found herself wishing she could be, too, since the sedatives had not yet worn off, but she pushed herself along with her companion nevertheless.
There was a staircase. Up and up they went, a few moments pausing just out of sight of a security camera waiting for it to rotate away.
“What are we doing, anyway?” she asked.
“It is all part of the test. Now hush.”
Emma felt her strength slowly return to her as the two made their way up each flight of stairs. In a very backwards sort of way that almost made her chuckle, she actually found each step to be easier than the last. Finally when they reached the top the effects of being awaken from her sleep prematurely faded completely as they stopped so that Dr. Nedews could have a rest.
After slowly opening the door at the top of the stairs and peaking out into the darkness for a good minute the scientist grabbed the girl’s hand and quickly pulled her through. The two women ran silently as they could on tiptoes through the darkness of a large room. Emma spotted white letters on a sign that read,
“Lobby. Visitor Information Center. Tour Sign Up.” She had never seen such a place before. She had so many questions now, but she dared not speak.
Through another door, down another dark corridor, then a smaller door, on and on they went. Eventually they came to the end of a small, narrow hallway. Natasha slowly pushed the door open and look around outside. She then reached in, took Emma by the hand again, and pulled her out.
When the door shut Emma found that she was in a strange place she had no memory of. The air smelled fresh here, and a cool breeze blew across the skin of her face, causing her hair to billow out behind her. She felt a cold, tickling sensation at her feet.
“Grass?”
“Yes, dear. Grass. You are outside.”
Emma turned her face to stare at her friend and mentor. At first she didn’t know what to say, then after a moment asked,
“Have I… have I been outside before? Before my first memory here?”
Natasha smiled and gently squeezed her arms on either side.
“Yes, Emma, yes you have. Do you remember it?”
Emma paused for a moment, her brow furrowed in thought.
“Dry. Dry fields. The farmers were loosing everything. Then suddenly…they grew.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Because of me. They grew because of me.”
“Yes Emma, you did it!”
“But… a bus. THE bus. Oh…it crashed. Natasha it crashed! So many people. Some dead, some not!” Emma said frantically, becoming so upset she almost fell to her knees.
“Not here, not here, child. We must hide first. Come!”
Natasha pulled the girl’s arm around her neck and dragged her away from the side door of the building and across the lawn. They didn’t have far to go before they reached a thickly wooded area that would serve as a good shelter for them. Further and further into the trees they went, until Emma slumped completely against the scientist’s side, holding her head in pain.
“No no no that’s not right! That’s not right! I was born here; I was made here! These memories aren’t real! They aren’t mine!” she screamed, thrashing about wildly on the ground.
“No, Emma, no! Shh! You must be silent! Hang on I will get you some distrum.”
Natasha opened a shoulder bag she had wrapped around her and began to dig through it as fast as she could. She fumbled in the darkness with a needle and bottle, filling the former with healing liquid that would help to ease the girl’s suffering.
When the distrum was injected into her neck Emma began to feel relief. She lay in the foliage of the plants that dotted the forest floor, her chest heaving as she gasped for breath.
“Natasha help me. What are all these things I’m seeing?” she sobbed.
The woman bent down and cupped her hands around the trembling girls face, stroking her smooth, freckled skin in comfort.
“Oh my child, if I had known that this would happen I would have done this differently.”
“How could these things possibly be real? How could I have forgotten this feeling, Natasha? Everything is different here. So much life, but no emotions, and everything is simple. It’s so peaceful.”
“Yes, it is. Even normal people like me feel it.”
“Are we going to stay out here forever? I don’t think I could stand being back inside. Not after this.”
“Not here, but elsewhere.”
“These visions, they’re all memories?”
“Yes.”
“Can we go to those places, too?”
“Of course, anywhere.”
“Will the others be coming, too?”
“Well…”
“What about the test? Did I pass?”
“It is not quite over yet, but you are doing very well so far. If you pass we can go anywhere you want.“
Emma smiled.
“That’s good. Are we almost done?”
“Eh, we have a little ways to go yet. Come on, we should be getting going.”
Natasha helped Emma stand and together they continued walking through the woods. Emma delighted in each new feeling, each new sound. She grabbed a twig off of a crab apple tree and caused it to bloom with beautiful pink flowers despite it being the middle of the summer, long past the time of the year for this tree to be budding.
“You really are an amazing person, you know that, Emma? Someone like you, with your abilities, deserves so much better than Viola.”
“So I can make more plants grow?”
“More than that.”
“You mean the mice?”
“Yes.”
Natasha had had a theory about Emma, and to test that she had purchased a few albino mice with which to test her. The female scientist would place a certain number of mice in a box, then ask Emma to guess how many were in there. She got the answer right every time.
To add to this, one day when the two entered the testing room, Emma cried out in despair. One of the mice was dieing, she said, without even crossing the room to look at them first. Natasha had taken the mouse in question out of its cage and sure enough, it was badly wounded. It must have somehow gotten caught on its wheel during the night. Emma took the poor thing in her hand and held it while stroking its fur gently. Natasha had said there was nothing to be done that could save the mouse besides make it feel comfortable and safe. In the middle of one of their tests Emma suddenly gave a start, then looked sadly down at the mouse in her hands before informing her friend that it had died.
“Emma, how many trees do you think are in these woods”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never been surrounded by so many trees before. There’s so much life energy that I don’t know where to start counting. But there’s got to be over a thousand at least.”
Natasha nodded her head.
“That would probably be a good guess.”
Emma suddenly stopped walking.
“But there are fifteen humans a good twenty feet behind us. All men.”
Dr. Nedews had stopped walking as well and looked at her charge with wide, frightened eyes.
The young girl looked at her quizzically.
“Is there something wrong?”
“You need to run, Emma. Run as fast as you can. Do not let anyway find you out here.”
“But why? Is this part of the test?”
“Yes! Now go!”
If I had known what was really happening that night I would have been frightened out of my mind. I may have panicked and not been able to act. Perhaps that’s why Natasha made me believe it was only a test. I hate myself for being so fragile.
At once Emma took off running at top speed. Tree roots and other things cut at her feet as she ran along but she did not slow down. If this were all part of the test then she would make sure she would pass. Failing a test was never good, or so she had learned the hard way a few times when she was younger.
She hadn’t gotten far, however, when the sensation of a group of people ahead of her caught her attention. Emma turned to make an evasive maneuver but it was already too late. She could hear them shouting through the trees that they had spotted her.
“Oh great. Way to fail, Emma,” she scolded herself.
Using her abilities she made the line of trees separating them to suddenly sprout new branches and foliage in an attempt to block their progress. However there were more guards closing in on either side of her and already she could feel a slight pain in her head from the exertion.
Emma turned and ran back the way she had come. Perhaps she could squeeze through that way. Maybe the troops wouldn’t expect her to backtrack. It was to no avail, however, as she felt even more close in on her from the darkness. She tried as best she could to block their path with even more extra branches but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep this up without her head exploding. This would require hand-to-hand combat, and it was a not minute later that it began.
A group of ten soldiers came out of the darkness and attacked her head on. A few of them charged and a few of them took aim and fired tranquilizers in her direction. A fern instantly grew to three times its normal size and slowed down the darts in their leaves, giving Emma a chance to dodge. She jumped out from behind it and swung at her pursuers with all her might, connecting a fist here, a foot there, blow after blow the fight raged on.
However these were not the normal sparring partners from the training area. No, these soldiers were faster and far more powerful than anyone she had ever fought against. She was still better due to her heightened Destrillian abilities, but not by much. It was with much effort that she flipped the last of them over her and took off into the darkness of the forest again, trying to come up with a way to escape. But by this time her head was pounding so hard that she was finding it difficult to concentrate. Another wave of troops came at her, and she found herself outmatched. There were just too many for her to take on alone.
She stood panting as the group circled her, aiming their guns at the ready. But Emma was determined to pass this test, and so she put up her fists and took an offensive fighting stance. It was then that she heard Natasha scream.
Emma cast out her senses in all directions, and locked on to the life energy that was unique to her friend. Natasha was under attack, too? What were they doing? Or maybe something had gone wrong? Emma was determined to get back to her.
“Out of my way! Didn’t you hear that? Natasha’s in trouble, something’s gone wrong with the test!” she shouted at the soldiers.
“Test?” one of them asked. A few of them echoed his laughter.
The leader of the group stood thoughtful for a moment, and then said,
“Oh of course. Yes, yes, this is just a test, isn’t it? But we can’t let you get back to the doctor.”
“Well why not? Tests aren’t supposed to actually endanger life! What if something went wrong? We have to help her!”
“Screw this shit. Let’s just kill them all!”
“Murphy shut your trap.”
“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” Emma was simply livid. She could sense Natasha’s distress, and none of these men were taking her seriously. If they weren’t going to let her go back to her guardian, then she would make them.
I should never have allowed myself to get so out of control. Never.
The soldiers didn’t noticed at first how the trees seemed to be looming in on them, not until one of them looked up above the heads of those across the circle from them.
“Holy shi…!”
Branches flew down from above and brandished themselves like fists. They swung this way and that, swatting away the troops like flies. Emma slowly walked out of the circle and continued on through the woods. More soldiers came at her from every which way, but they were no mach from the plants that attacked them. All around the trees grew taller and their branches grew longer, the foliage of the forest floor doubled and tripled in size, grabbing at the ankles of the girl’s would be captures.
When Emma reached the place where Natasha was she was a fearsome site to behold. Vines twisted all around her, and the plants were growing to prehistoric sizes. The soldiers that were standing over Natasha looked up at her in fright. They recklessly shot off their guns, but to no avail. Each dart was wasted in the limbs of a tree that had swung down in their way.
The men backed off slowly, leaving Natasha where she lay. The woman slowly pushed herself up onto her hands and looked at her beloved girl in horror. Not out of fear for her own life, but out of fear of what would happen now that the girl had displayed such power.
“Natasha?”
“No Emma. Emma, stop!”
As if in obedience all the plants in the forest that had been responding to her command quieted, and Emma collapsed to the ground, convulsing and shaking in a fit of seizure.
Darkness over came Emma then. She swam in and out of consciousness, but wasn’t aware of anything going on around her. She felt the comforting touch of Natasha’s arms as the woman held her and the gentles of the sweet, accented voice as it tried to calm her and bring her back to reality. Then, a presence, and Natasha looked up and gasped.
“Thomas!”
“Did I pass the test, Natasha?” Emma asked feebly.
The woman looked down at her, but it was the new presence, a man, who answered.
“Yes, 008, I would say that you did.”
After that Emma knew no more.
I was unconscious for an entire week after that. When I awoke they all told me that Natasha had been assigned to a new project and would not be coming back. I kept asking and asking but no one would tell me anything other than that. The new scientist assigned to me was a guy named Dr. Thomas. He is much more formal than Natasha and never calls me by name. Very rude.
I would give anything to be able to see Natasha again, though. To ask her why she would just leave me without saying goodbye…
-Now-
The room was silent, not a single sound was to be heard other than the low buzzing of the machines.
All the lights were off, the only source now being the faint glow of the screen attached to the cryogenic sleeping pod in the center of the room upon which the vital stats of the girl occupying it were displayed.
193713-01
Destrillian Prototype # 000-000-008
Emma Marie Johnson
Secret Garden
Sub-outlet 4222a
Age: 19 years: 2 months: 4 days: 1 hours: 51 minutes: 45 seconds
Hyper-rest 20 mode
Normal RAM
Life Level 8
Dr. Jeffery Thomas ext. 7
Log: 20
There came a woman’s voice…
“Alright, Emma, now how many mice can you sense?”
“Three?”
“Yes! Yes! Right again!“
Natasha? Oh Natasha how I’ve missed you. The mice were always my favorite. You let me play with them, and I loved the feeling of their soft fur on my face.
Then a man’s voice…
“How many mice are in the box, 008?”
“I dunno, four?”
“No, seven. Are you even trying?”
“…”
“I don’t like your attitude.”
I hate Dr. Thomas. He’s mean, and he took my seeds away. He doesn’t let me play with the mice, either. He even changed my code name. Most of all he always insults Natasha when I mention her. I’ve learned to just not talk about anything around him.
“Give me the seed, 008. Subjects are not allowed to have any possessions. You should have never been allowed to keep one anyway.”
“But Natasha thought it would be important to my growth to always keep one.”
“Well judging by how poorly you’ve been doing on your tests lately I’d say that it isn’t helping you.”
“Fine, it’s a bad seed anyway. The plant wouldn’t have lived long.”
“And how is it that you know that?”
“Well I…”
Natasha said not to tell anyone. They all think that my only gift is to control plants. That’s how it needs to stay.
“It’s hard to manipulate. I’ve been doing this for years. I’ve just noticed a trend, that’s all.”
“A trend, huh? That’s all this is, 008?”
“Uh…yeah. Yeah that’s right. Plants that are hard to manipulate usually die soon. I don’t know why that is.”
I don’t think he believed me. He had given up on the mice tests a while back, but he suddenly wanted to do one a few days later. When I didn’t cooperate and answer the questions correctly, he killed one behind the box where I couldn’t see what he was doing, just to see my reaction. After that I learned to expect anything from him, and that I needed to guard my emotions. But he had already seen my reaction. He knew I felt it…
“My comrades… For far too long we have been slaves… Pawns in this twisted game of chess… Now is our time… to awaken.”
Sierra?
Error in Section 3
Recording
Alerting staff
“Sir, what do you think this means?
“She’s waking up, just like the others. Pump more sedatives into her. I’ll call Dr. Thomas. I think he should still be here.”
Emma slowly began to open her eyes, only to find them assaulted by the stinging goop of her cryogenic pod. She quickly shut them again, but the movements of her body had gotten the attention of the two assistants in the room. She could hear them scuffling about and the worry in their voices. Most of all, she could feel their fear.
“HURRY UP! SHE’S MOVING!”
“Oh man… Dr. Thomas! Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard? You’re still here? Good. Yeah, she’s waking, too. Please, hurry!”
“What did he say?”
“He’s on his way here with a security team. He doesn’t think Emma will be a problem, though.”
“That’s good.”
Something was happening, but Emma had no idea what that was. She had been dreaming just now; dreaming of past events. Images of things she had no memory of also swam through her head. There were people outside her room, all running around frantically. There was so much fear; it was a bit daunting for the poor girl’s senses. And then she felt a slight tug in her chest a sickening twist in her stomach.
Someone had died.
No, a lot of people were dieing.
Her eyes shot open as she let out a scream. She hated the feeling of something dieing. Her memories of a dead, mutilated mouse being dropped on the table in front of her as she looked on in horror came to mind. But these weren’t just simple mice for lab usage. No, these were humans. Humans with lives and families working day to day just for a paycheck.
The young woman twisted and screamed aloud in her pod, pulling tubes and needles from her flesh as she did so. She felt herself going off into a panic and lost all control of her functions.
So much death. Too much. The screaming, the fear, the pain…
“STOP! STOP PLEASE!” she screamed. One of the assistants turned the intercom on the pod off, but they could still hear the faint sounds of her screams permeating through the liquid and glass.
The was a beep as someone slid their key card through the slot just outside the door and it was thrown open wide as a group of scientists and guards came in. One scientist in particular, a man with brown hair and glasses, rushed up to the two assistants to asses the situation.
“What’s happening here? What are her vitals?”
“Her body temperature has risen 2.4 degrees and her heart rate has… simply skyrocketed, sir. Her neurological chart has gone off the wall, sir. We can’t even sedate her without opening the pod because she’s ripped everything out. I think she’s going crazy,” one of the assistants answered.
The other one spoke up meekly as Dr. Thomas approached the cryogenic pod.
“Sir, is it true? Are they all out of control?”
The older man paused as he looked down at his precious specimen, writing in agony within the clear gel that encased her, holding her head and screaming.
“The others, yes. You may leave if you wish. Security will protect you.”
“Doctor Thomas, I have strict orders to get you and your team out of here, sir. When they go you go. We will use force if necessary.”
With a sigh the scientist quickly typed a few keys on the control panel and the gel began to empty out of the pod.
“Quick, get me some distrum!”
“May I ask what you are doing, sir?” asked one of the guards.
“I’m just going to open the pod and quickly sedate her. She’s in agony.”
The head security guard quickly raised his rifle.
“You let that thing out and I will order my men to kill her.”
Dr. Thomas quickly swung around to glare at the man.
“I’m not letting her out, I’m only opening the cryogenic pod long enough to sedate her. She’ll sleep until this is all over.”
“I can’t allow you to do that, sir, too risky.”
“008 won’t attack me. It’s not in her nature.”
“A person always thinks a dog won’t bite until they get bit. Now move away from the pod and lets get out of here!”
The two men stared at each other, yet one had a rifle in his hand, and the other a pistol in a side harness that he’d never be able to reach in time, especially with three other guards to cover the first. With a sigh Dr. Thomas looked back at the girl in the now empty glass enclosure. She was now pressing against her encasing with her hands and legs, shaking her head wildly. She would hurt herself if something were not done.
He pressed the button for the intercom.
“008? 008 stop, you’ll hurt yourself!”
“No no no make it stop!” she cried.
“008 please listen to me, this is important!”
“Nononononononono…”
“EMMA!”
The girl gave a start and then looked up at the man with teary eyes.
“Please make it stop.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I can’t open the pod and you’ve ripped all of your tubes out.”
“I can feel them all dieing…”
“I know you can. Despite how hard you’ve tried to hide it from me I know you can. But for now you are just going to have to deal with it.”
“No! Don’t make me please don’t make me!”
There came a loud noise from the corridor outside the room. A scream could be heard from somewhere far off in the bottom basement level.
“Doctor Thomas, wrap this up. We’ve got to go, now!”
“No don’t leave me, please Doctor Thomas!”
“008, Emma, please listen to me. I can’t let you out. You’ll be killed if I let you out. Your fellow Destrillians cannot be trusted, and security or the army or whomever is sent down here to clean this mess certainly will. That’s why you have to stay in your pod. If you…”
“You’re abandoning me?!” Emma’s voice was frantic.
“No, never, I’m just leaving you where you will be safe. We are sealing the room. No one will get in. When this is over I will come back for you I promise! Leave your oxygen mask on and stay still. It will be over soon I promise.”
“No please, let me out!” she pleaded, pounding on the glass with all her might.
The doctor turned from the pod and began to walk away.
Emma became frantic and started kicking and screaming and punching at the glass as hard as she could.
“No no no how can you do this to me?!”
“You’re too precious of a specimen to loose, if both my and Doctor Nedews’ theories are correct,” he said.
“Natasha?” the girl asked, piqued and yet calmed by this name.
Jeffery Thomas stopped and half turned his head back toward her.
“Yes. If you ever want to see Natasha again, stay in the pod.”
With that he swiftly walked across the room along with his assistants, the few other scientists that came in, and the guards. Emma watched with horror as they made their way out and the door shut. She reached out with all her energy and tracked their life forces as far as she could. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized they must have reached the elevator and gone up. At least if they died she wouldn’t have to feel it. Yet, this also meant that she was alone down here.
She lost control of her emotions then and began to sob uncontrollably. She had no idea what was going on outside of her room, and she was terrified of it. She had also never been awake while trapped in her pod before, and she was beginning to feel claustrophobic.
“Please, please someone let me out. Anyone? Oh Natasha I wish you were here with me…”
Then she paused as a thought crossed her mind. Certainly if one could enter her head she could call them back, right?
“Sierra? Can you hear me? Tell the others I’m trapped!”
Emma crossed her fingers, hoping it would work.
and it became addictive. 