Not Alone Chapter 2: The Escape
'Can't breathe... can't... RUN! GO!' I scramble off the ground barely able to breathe looking around eyes as wide as they can go. 'So many people! Can't breathe! No! Get away!' I am surrounded by people all of them talking at once, so many hands. I pull my powers up and around myself and force them all away from me. With a clear path I run, as far and as fast as I can. I don't look back, I just keep going. It feels like days but it's only been a few hours, my legs burn like the fires of hell but I keep running anyway. My lungs feel as if they can't get enough air but if I stop to catch my breath they'll get me. I know they'll get me, they're still watching.
I crash into a wall and hold on for dear life, I can't breathe but I can't stop either. There is no time for stopping.. I have to... I have to find her! Her? Who? Argh! No Time! I take off running again. Where am I even going!? The space port? I have no money.... could I sneak on? Would they notice? Which ship would I take? Where does the ship even need to be headed? No, I can't leave Earth... it would endanger her! Who is she!? Just put it out of your mind Alpha. Why can't I just stop thinking about her?
(Several hours earlier)
Alpha seems very agitated, won't eat his lunch and refuses to do his daily excersizes. If he spoke our language perhaps we could get some answers out of him, but he is steadfastly refusing to learn. Alpha has been pacing for some time now, occasionally throwing himself to the ground and rocking back and forth. He isn't talking to anyone, and he doesn't want to be touched. Alpha seems just as confused as we do about his behavior. He isn't making any sense, and he has never behaved like this before. He has thus far refused to let us do any tests or scans to try and find out what is wrong with him. After some badgering from one of junior scientists, Alpha has started to use his biotics to keep us away.
We don't know what to do for him. As time goes on he becomes more and more agitated. The time he spends pacing becomes less and the time he spends rocking is becoming more. He almost seems to be in some sort of trance, he isn't even responding to us anymore. His biotics seem to be keeping us at a distance still, however it's as if we don't even exist to Alpha. He isn't consciously responding to us anymore.
“Alpha? Are you still with us son?” I say as I approach the cut off point for his biotics attacks. His head twitches but there is no other response to my words. Perhaps I can get through to him, after all we did set it up so he has an emotional attachment to me. As a father figure of sorts. We've noticed it helps make him work harder. We suppose if I'm like a father figure he'll feel the need for approval. Of course no one has out right told him I am his father so we have no worries about him to use my sympathies to help him. Not that he needs help, outside of scans and observation we've had no reason to do anything invasive yet. Except of course install the amp the Asari provided.
The boy actually seems happy here most of the time. We let him play war strategy games on the extranet so he has some outside interaction. Of course the programs also teach him about military maneuvers and simple guns and tech. He seems to have taken very well to the games. Besides all of the games the only other child interaction he receives is when we bring others in to gauge his level against theirs. We sometimes let him play with the children before the fights though, the kids are the best in their fields and have no wish to play with him after he has beat them. Childish pride it would seem is a saddening affair. Until this day Alpha has never refused us anything, but then... I suppose we shouldn't have expected him to always comply.
He's rocking back and forth again, but he has allowed me to get closer. I suppose being a father figure has it's uses. I set my hand gently on his shoulder “Alpha? Come on son. Snap out of it. Tell us what's wrong. What do you need?” I say as I kneel down next to him. He looks up at me and for the first time since he was 'born', there are tears in his eyes. “Fafa, bai feno woi! Boishi enido eniji! Corinado Fafa, banato corido armari.” He gasps the words out in his strange language and I don't understand a word of it. I pat his shoulder and sit down beside him pulling him against my side. “It's alright my boy, just relax. It will all be over soon. I promise.” I sigh as his tears renew and he buries his face in his knees.
I soothe my hand over his head and back and gesture to the other scientists and doctors who are waiting to sedate Alpha. They slowly move forward and administer the drugs. For the moment it seems to be working, Alpha seems incredibly disoriented and almost sleeping. We should have known that in his agitated state the sedatives wouldn't work.
(Alpha's P.O.V.)
I can't feel her anymore... No! I have to feel her! Where did she go!? Who is she? What is she? Is this normal? No, it can't be. Father and the others don't know what to do. I can't lose her... I can't even think of anything or anyone else. I can't feel her and all I can do is panic. I have to... I have to go! I have to find her! I can't stay here! I push off the wall and weave slightly away from my father and the others. What did they do? What did they give me? I can't feel her anymore and for some reason that is unacceptable. My anger is rising but I have no wish to harm anyone so I stumble away from the group around me. I can feel hands on me. They are all telling me to sit down.
I don't want to! Get off! I can't feel her anymore... can I burn off this drug? Maybe... I could... I could teleport... should I? It's dangerous... I could lose my clothes... no... to much power... not enough control. I can't stay here though... and it will burn off the sedative, all that power rushing through my systems. I'd have to leave though, long distance or I won't burn it all off. Could I do it? Maybe... will they follow? Yes. I need her though... who is she? Don't think about that Alpha, just need to feel her again... ok burn it off... but... come back? No, Find her... Should I? Yes. Find her.. right! I nod to myself and turn to the scientists and my father, “Mo gaido, Fafa” I nod to my father before turning away and wrapping my powers around me.
I disappear in a flash of light. What feels like hours later, but I know is less than nano seconds, I can feel my senses coming back. I can feel her again! I need her! Why? Don't think Alpha! Just concentrate! No use to her if I fry myself! Which direction am I headed? North? Should have thought this through.. going to land in the middle of a bust street. That isn't good, sedatives clouded my mind. Let's hope this ends well... I've arrived. Severe disorientation is the first thing to hit me, then the noise. So much sound... can't think! Hands? No touching! To sensitive after transfer! Transfer? Don't care! Run!
(2 Hours Later)
I'm so exhausted. I need sleep and food. I don't know about food but I can find a warehouse to sleep in easily. Using so much of my powers was a bad idea, I can still feel her but there is less urgency now. I'm able to relegate her presence to a spot in the back of my mind now. Perhaps now that she is calm I should return to my father. I wouldn't know what to do if I found her anyway. She feels so far away, it would be be difficult anyway. I can feel her, that is enough. I should sleep now, father and the others will find me soon enough. I turn to the nearest warehouse and find a place to sleep. It isn't very comfortable but it will do until I'm home again.
I'm awoken hours later by the prodding of guns. Guns? Really? I'm not exactly dangerous am I? After all I've never hurt anybody, on purpose anyway. They prod me towards a military vehicle which I climb into. They have me sit in the middle of the large vehicle so they can all keep their guns trained on me. It's ridiculous but I can't exactly order them not to, not that they would understand anyway. Doesn't matter as long as they take me home, I'll probably be punished. How will they punish me exactly? I haven't a clue, they've never actually had to do so before. So this should be new. I relax knowing this is going to be a long drive. If I'm going to be here a while I might as well meditate.
I'm rudely brought back to myself sometime later, once again by the prodding of guns. Rifles actually, hadn't really looked at them before. How.. primitive, don't think that Alpha. These are your people, they can't help it if they're dumber than you. Just go with the flow until you're back with your father. Ow! Did he just push me? He did! I would retaliate if they all didn't have guns pointed at me. I'm pretty resilient... I wonder if I'm bulletproof … ya'know, I don't really want to test that theory. Never mind. Besides, would they really point guns at something they perceive as a threat if they thought the guns wouldn't work on it? Right... definitely not trying that then. Oh look a chair, I'll just sit down until someone comes to tell me what is going on.
I don't have to wait long before some of the scientists arrive chattering excitedly and scanning me to excess. Soon enough my father joins them, he gives me a look I can't decipher before moving to read the findings of his fellows. Once all the excitement dies down my father kneels down in front of me and we stare at each other for a while before he sighs. “We'll have to punish you, you know this yes?” I nod. Seeing my acquiescence he continues “Do you know why your being punished?” I shrug. He sighs again and pats my shoulder “For leaving the compound and neglecting to show us this power sooner. Do you understand Alpha?” I nod again staring at my feet. “Bai morinari, Fafa.” I all but whisper in response. He nods and leaves.
I'm left in this room with only a bed and chair for a solid two weeks. Of course they slide food into the room through a slot in the door. I'm deprived of all manners of stimulation. Come to find out, I don't much like that. This is not a practice I will ever work towards. Finally though father escorts me back to my normal room. Everything is as I left it, and I'm unbelievably happy to see my room again. I rush in and climb up onto my bed hugging me cartoon themed pillow. My father almost smiles before he clears his throat and leave me to it. The next day we are back to our normal schedule: Training, and scanning. They are still trying to teach me to write like them so I can answer test questions, but I have no interest. I do know what it says but have no interest in using it.
The language they want me to use is inefficient, so I won't use it. Though I have realized they don't understand the language I use. Perhaps they should ask me to teach them instead of just running everything I say though a machine. The next rotation of scientists will happen soon, perhaps new minds and fresh perspective will finally work out. It's been two years since I woke up here so it's unlikely.. all the same. They might eventually hit the nail on the head. I'm not exactly tired here, so perhaps I should get up and let them know I'm ready to perform. They might make me show them the large scale teleportation. With a clear mind now I might be able to do it properly... considering I did it almost perfectly while drugged. It's not something I can teach them though, it requires more power than their amps allow.
I pull myself from the bed with a huff and walk over to the monitors and stare them down for a moment. I know I have their attention “I'm ready now.” I know my use of their language surprises them. I don't plan on using it very often. It takes only seconds for the surprise to wear off and the scientists and my father to join me in my room. I gesture silently to the table we always use for my daily mind excersizes and sit down. They set a kitten down in front of me, I can't help but blink. I look up at them questioningly and my father moves to explain “We want you to teleport this kitten, to various checkpoints through out this facility. We won't take no as an answer this time. Do you understand son?” He asks and I nod.
“If I teleport the kitten safely... and it is whole and unharmed afterwords... can I keep it Fafa? Please?” I plead quietly, looking between my father and the other scientists. My father looks thoughtful for a few moments but nods, “Of course son. It seems an adequate reward if you can pull it off. Here is a map of the facility with all of the checkpoints highlighted. Get to work, the faster you get done the sooner you can have the kitten.” My father sets the map in front of me with a nod. “Begin.” is all he says and I immediately begin to concentrate. Soon enough I send the kitten to the first checkpoint. My father nods at me in conformation a few seconds later, we spend the whole afternoon this way. They aren't just testing distance, but also the mass I can carry and my endurance or stamina or whatever they want to call it.
When the tests conclude they let me keep the kitten and we spend the rest of the week working on larger objects, inanimate and organic. At longer and longer distances, I've yet to become tired with this. They haven't reached my limits yet.... like they hadn't monitored the distance I went when I teleported myself. Doesn't matter though... I got a kitten out of the deal... I named him Beta... I thought it was funny. Of course over time I know they will find my max distance to weight/size ratio. Then of course they will bring in biotic specialists in hope one of them can figure out how to do it. I wish them luck with that... not even the biotically superior Asari have the power for it. I might b able to teach a moniker of it, but not a full out teleportation.
I could teach them to slow the time around them and speed up themselves. Causing them to rocket across rooms. Of course they wouldn't be able to go through barriers such as walls... unless the wall was thin and weak enough for it. It would take them years to master the discipline though. They would need to wait for a better amp as well, L2s just won't do it and the new L3s couldn't handle the strain for long. All the same it would be new and show how to build better more resilient amps. Of course little do the docs know but I burnt out my amp on my little excursion. I don't need one, I have near perfect control and excellent power usage. This was going to be very fun.
The next few weeks are exhausting as I very carefully teach the 'experts' how to charge. A few of them have burnt out their amps using to much power, while a few lack the control needed to do it. I keep giving my father blunt sarcastic stares and he has actually laughed a few times. The scientists had been surprised at my willingness to teach the 'experts'. Calling these guys experts is laughable at best, but what do I know? I'm just a kid after all. Though this has been sort of fun, it isn't often I get to scoff and laugh at adults that supposedly know better than I do. As exhausting as these are it is also fun to watch the 'experts' try to learn it since I won't speak their language. The confused faces area godsend.
It takes several weeks for the 'experts' to figure out how charging works. Even longer to implement the move. It takes them even longer to realize the are going to need better amps if they want it to work in any military capacity. Of course they hold no want to share this knowledge outside of Earth right now. So they will wait for a better amp to appear before they show off. It really makes me wonder why they haven't given me schematics for amps and asked me to design a new one... not that I would give them anything outside their technology range. I'm not stupid, no point in flinging mankind light years ahead of itself. They would probably do the stupid thing and try to take over the universe.
Mankind is many things but practical is not one of them. Use our technology to help the universe? Unheard of! Which is a rather atypical human response if I'm reading my history studies correctly. I enjoy helping them learn but not at the cost of the rest of the universe. Sometimes I find it hard to convince myself we are the same species... humans... pah! Such a strange species we are. We make no sense at all and yet we make all the sense in the world. An extremely compassionate race, but also capable of great evil. Take my captivity as an example. I am a child with no rights of my own, I exist solely to further mankind. All of mankind exists for the same reason, but I am the one who must shoulder the weight.
Humans have a great sense of wrong and right and are fantastic at completely ignoring the notions. Not that they are being invasive or cruel to me, but I am far more advanced than the average human. They use this to their advantage and keep me to themselves to study. One day they may go to far, it really depends on how desperate they are. I hope this day never comes, yet I feel as I get older the scientists may become bolder in their tests. I dread that day greatly. I hope my father will be around to stop them, if he is even interested in stopping them that is. I fear for my own sanity and the physical health of others if those days come to pass. Until then however I will obey, and I will teach them as needed.
The next few years are rough. Full of training and simulations. They need me to perform perfectly, not just perfectly though. They expect me to perform beyond their expectations. Also I can still feel her, she is just a healthy buzz in the back of my head. It's been almost a little over four years since she joined me in my head. I have received no acknowledgment from her but that is ok. It is probably best she does not know of me. The training mentally and physically exhausts me and I've no wish for her to feel it. Time goes on slowly and the tests become more and more, as if they are trying to find my limits. I haven't slept in days, when I finally sleep however I wake with a start. She has been taken.
