As casually as I could, I leaned over my bed and asked, "Packing any meds, Martin?" At this moment, my head thought it a convenient to shake several times forward and backward. Martin crossed the room to the chair where he had deposited his jacket earlier. Digging in the pocket, he brought out a bottle of pills.
"Here you go," Martin tossed me a couple of the pills.
My total body shaking now, I sat as close to the headboard as I could, putting my back against it, then drew my legs up toward my chest. "Thanks," I told him through clenched teeth, taking the pills in a quick toss of the hand.
Watching me as I jerked my body back and forth, Martin reached a finger in and took out another pill. Offering it to me, he stated, "Looks pretty bad."
I shrugged. It was a pretty comical effect, because my whole body was shaking. Shrugging and shaking, the motion of my body was extremely odd. "No thanks, Martin," I rejected the pill. "I've had worse before. No biggie. Just tiring."
Putting the pill back, Martin offered me one of his smiles. "Never had it that bad, but then again I was never hit hard by the seizures like some of the others."
My body was slowly starting to cease its constant motion. I scooted down the bed and crawled under the covers. "Turn out the light and go on to bed," I told Martin. Obediently, he clicked the table lamp off and I heard him get into his bed. Scowling slightly at the darkness, I waited until my entire body had stopped its tremors before I let myself go to sleep.
[gray thoughts]
I'm nine, I'm hiding behind a large fern. Mikaele and I are practicing some morphing. At the moment, I am a large, fat beetle. Its fun to be a beetle. The floor is much closer and smells ever so much more interesting. Dad is in front of the fern, talking. I've been morphed for three minutes. I can't stay in morph longer than five or six, so I'm starting to move away down the hall.
"If we kill those that are unsatisfactory," I hear dad begin, "what will happen to us? We'll lose an entire team. We can't do that. Not after the X-2 failure."
A man answers. I know this mans voice and I don't like him. He talks to HER a lot and SHE scares us. SHE is not the person who loves us. Dad loves us, we can feel. At least, he likes us the most. He's the closest thing to love my brothers and sisters have. Its fun, to know we can always control Dad because of his love for us. "We'll clone the girl," he says. "We'll clone her and edit the barcode. We'll at an extra letter after her barcode. A, B, C, et cetera. Simple. The director said it was to be done."
"You've already taken most of my kids, you can't think that you'll win this. We need the variety in the group. Just because the girl has advanced more quickly than her siblings doesn't mean they wont catch up. Think of it as a growth spurt, not everyone gets them at the same time," Dad sighs, I can hear him as I walk down the hall.
"The others wont catch up," the man says. I'm almost to the door. Thank goodness this is a short hall, right? If it wasn't a short hall, I wouldn't make it.
"We have six of the original forty left!" I hear Dad exclaim. He makes a noise of impatience. We all know the sound. Sometimes when we do something stupid, my brothers and sister will make the noise. "We cannot afford to lose more! Besides, if we clone the girl, she's still ten years older."
"Remember that special gene," here, the man laughs. What gene? "We'll add it in, they'll age quickly, we take it out. We have a group of ten year olds, ready to learn."
"They'll be ten in body, but what will they know?" Dad seems ready to counterattack everything that is thrown at him. "They'll be large babies, large infants. They'll not know how to eat, walk, or talk. Tell the director that as soon as she can invent something that gives the children the memories and knowledge of the cloned child, I will allow her to destroy an entire group. Before that, I will not. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Colonel," I'm in the door, and I quickly morph into human form. As I rise rapidly from the floor, my dark black skin turning a softer gray, I make a sign for the others to close the door. They do so, then they wait until I am able to speak again.
"Almost got caught," I giggle.
[/gray thoughts]
I woke up early the next morning. I wasn't not as tired as I was directly after the seizure, which was a good thing. I didn't need to be tired while I was going north. Martin was still asleep, so I went and took a shower. The water was cold, but I hadn't exactly expected it to be hot.
As I was toweling off, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a half-memory. It was just a sound, a mark of impatience that was well-known to me. I sat down, wrapped in my towel, on the edge of the tub. There was more to the memory, but I couldn't recall exactly what it was. It was probably nothing, Lydecker had used that sound often enough.
I dressed, rather disappointed in myself that I hadn't brought any of the pretty clothing that Mumma and Papa had bought me in France. I looked out the window, watching the clouds drift in the pink sky, fingering my jeans absentmindedly. They were nice enough, fashion jeans, they were called, but I wasn't certain how long they would last. My shirt, likewise, was made to look good, not to provide much protection against the elements. I would have to do some pocket borrowing and buy some new things.
I heard Martin getting up. Glancing backwards, I was just able to see him disappear into the bathroom with a towel. That was the good thing about this hotel, they had many towels in the closet. I didn't know why, maybe this room had been a storage area for the towels while it was vacant.
An hour later, we were on the road again. This time, I directed our little procession of two toward the North. When Martin asked where we were going, I merely shrugged in reply. I was getting too much like Zack. Not a good thing, but some habits die hard.
The sector police out of California were very nosy. Martin was all for going a long way around them, through the words, but I put up a hand, stopping him. "Where you going, boy?" I asked. Shaking my head, I turned back to the sector police.
"We'll just pass through now, we clear," I said, starting to walk. Martin looked a little askew until the sector police said:
"Pass through now, all clear."
I giggled. I liked this part of being psychic. It was fun being able to mess around with people's minds. They wouldn't realize it was happening if I was careful.
"What was that?" Martin asked when we were a respectable distance away from the sector police.
"Ancient Jedi Mind Trick," I told him, my face serious. Then I started laughing. "Goodness, that was so much fun. Most of the other sector police were lax and didn't care if we got through or not. This one cared about his job," I tapped my two index fingers and my middle fingers together. "Jolly good job, ole chap."
"It was done so quickly! You didn't look at all as if you were meditating," Martin glanced back at the almost disappeared station. "How?"
I gave him a pensive side-glance as we started jogging along the edge of the road. "Haven't you been practicing?" I asked him, biting my lower lip.
"Of course, but I still meditate for at least half an hour before I get any results," Martin stopped for a few seconds to tie his shoe, then ran to catch up with me. "Frances is getting pretty good. She can stand while meditating and she'll be able to get into the mind and see what the person is thinking in five minutes! How far are you along?"
Martin's question was met with silence. I had met and passed Frannie's level of ability almost three years ago. Why was it that I was able to go so much further along than my brothers and sisters? They had basically the same DNA as I had. I decided not to answer; Martin decided not to pursue the subject.
[gray thoughts]
"Mom!" I call out. I have just gotten home from school. Jaci and Meg are behind me, giggling and pushing each other. I run to my room with them and we put our backpacks on the hooks in my closet. "Mom! Dad!" I call again. I sneeze twice. I start to giggle with Jaci and Meg, because I know I looked funny when I sneezed.
Bling walks into my room. "Hello, m'ladies," he says, handing us each a banana. "If you'll be so kind as to eat your snack at the table, I will fetch the King and Queen of the household's note."
Jaci, Meg, and I start to pinch each other as we follow Bling out of my room. He hands me a note with Mom's scribbled message on it. It says GONE ON ONE OF DAD'S PROJECTS. FRIENDS CAN STAY THE NIGHT. I show it to Meg and Jaci.
"Call Emy and Jeanne!" Jaci demands. I hold up a hand.
"Wait, if we invite Emy and Jeanne, we'll have to invite Anna and Sue, so that means we'll have to sleep out in the living room and watch TV," I tell them, grinning. We run into my room to get phone book. "Where in the world is it?" I ask as we search the room. I can't find anything. Finally, without thinking, I just open my door and go into their heads to retrieve the phone numbers. It seems natural. "Got them," I say as I grab the phone off the table by my doorway and dial.
Its only after I finish talking to the girls do I realize what I had done. For the first time, I didn't need to meditate to go into a head. I am so proud of myself.
[/gray thoughts]
We jogged most of the day. We didn't meet anymore sector police that posed as much of a danger. We didn't stop for lunch or breakfast at all, I wasn't hungry. I asked Martin a few times if he wanted to stop, but he just shook his head no. Don't get me wrong, after a few hours of solid running, we did stop and do some power resting. We just didn't stop and eat. We didn't see many places to eat, anyway.
Around sunset, Martin asked again, "Why are we heading north?" This time, I decided to answer him.
"I have family up north. Haven't seen them in two years, but they'll be glad to know I'm alive," I told him, looking at the trees on my right. They were so large, so tall, it looked as if civilization hadn't happened there. Of course, the road running through the middle of them was a big turn off. I wanted to go through the woods and just play, but I knew it wasn't a good idea. Might miss something important on the road.
"Family?" Martin questioned, brushing his hair out of his eyes.
"My Mom and Dad," I explained. "They got a place in Seattle."
"Why aren't they on the loop of your whereabouts?" Martin was eyeing a squirrel with an appraising look; I decided the next town we came to would be our bunking grounds. Martin was probably at that very moment thinking of ways to roast that squirrel.
"Had to leave. 'Deck was a little closer to getting me, so I went to France for a while," I pointed to a sign -- three more miles until the next town.
"Gotcha. Keep your ass out of hot water," Martin sped up slightly. Smiling, I matched his pace.
"Here you go," Martin tossed me a couple of the pills.
My total body shaking now, I sat as close to the headboard as I could, putting my back against it, then drew my legs up toward my chest. "Thanks," I told him through clenched teeth, taking the pills in a quick toss of the hand.
Watching me as I jerked my body back and forth, Martin reached a finger in and took out another pill. Offering it to me, he stated, "Looks pretty bad."
I shrugged. It was a pretty comical effect, because my whole body was shaking. Shrugging and shaking, the motion of my body was extremely odd. "No thanks, Martin," I rejected the pill. "I've had worse before. No biggie. Just tiring."
Putting the pill back, Martin offered me one of his smiles. "Never had it that bad, but then again I was never hit hard by the seizures like some of the others."
My body was slowly starting to cease its constant motion. I scooted down the bed and crawled under the covers. "Turn out the light and go on to bed," I told Martin. Obediently, he clicked the table lamp off and I heard him get into his bed. Scowling slightly at the darkness, I waited until my entire body had stopped its tremors before I let myself go to sleep.
[gray thoughts]
I'm nine, I'm hiding behind a large fern. Mikaele and I are practicing some morphing. At the moment, I am a large, fat beetle. Its fun to be a beetle. The floor is much closer and smells ever so much more interesting. Dad is in front of the fern, talking. I've been morphed for three minutes. I can't stay in morph longer than five or six, so I'm starting to move away down the hall.
"If we kill those that are unsatisfactory," I hear dad begin, "what will happen to us? We'll lose an entire team. We can't do that. Not after the X-2 failure."
A man answers. I know this mans voice and I don't like him. He talks to HER a lot and SHE scares us. SHE is not the person who loves us. Dad loves us, we can feel. At least, he likes us the most. He's the closest thing to love my brothers and sisters have. Its fun, to know we can always control Dad because of his love for us. "We'll clone the girl," he says. "We'll clone her and edit the barcode. We'll at an extra letter after her barcode. A, B, C, et cetera. Simple. The director said it was to be done."
"You've already taken most of my kids, you can't think that you'll win this. We need the variety in the group. Just because the girl has advanced more quickly than her siblings doesn't mean they wont catch up. Think of it as a growth spurt, not everyone gets them at the same time," Dad sighs, I can hear him as I walk down the hall.
"The others wont catch up," the man says. I'm almost to the door. Thank goodness this is a short hall, right? If it wasn't a short hall, I wouldn't make it.
"We have six of the original forty left!" I hear Dad exclaim. He makes a noise of impatience. We all know the sound. Sometimes when we do something stupid, my brothers and sister will make the noise. "We cannot afford to lose more! Besides, if we clone the girl, she's still ten years older."
"Remember that special gene," here, the man laughs. What gene? "We'll add it in, they'll age quickly, we take it out. We have a group of ten year olds, ready to learn."
"They'll be ten in body, but what will they know?" Dad seems ready to counterattack everything that is thrown at him. "They'll be large babies, large infants. They'll not know how to eat, walk, or talk. Tell the director that as soon as she can invent something that gives the children the memories and knowledge of the cloned child, I will allow her to destroy an entire group. Before that, I will not. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Colonel," I'm in the door, and I quickly morph into human form. As I rise rapidly from the floor, my dark black skin turning a softer gray, I make a sign for the others to close the door. They do so, then they wait until I am able to speak again.
"Almost got caught," I giggle.
[/gray thoughts]
I woke up early the next morning. I wasn't not as tired as I was directly after the seizure, which was a good thing. I didn't need to be tired while I was going north. Martin was still asleep, so I went and took a shower. The water was cold, but I hadn't exactly expected it to be hot.
As I was toweling off, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a half-memory. It was just a sound, a mark of impatience that was well-known to me. I sat down, wrapped in my towel, on the edge of the tub. There was more to the memory, but I couldn't recall exactly what it was. It was probably nothing, Lydecker had used that sound often enough.
I dressed, rather disappointed in myself that I hadn't brought any of the pretty clothing that Mumma and Papa had bought me in France. I looked out the window, watching the clouds drift in the pink sky, fingering my jeans absentmindedly. They were nice enough, fashion jeans, they were called, but I wasn't certain how long they would last. My shirt, likewise, was made to look good, not to provide much protection against the elements. I would have to do some pocket borrowing and buy some new things.
I heard Martin getting up. Glancing backwards, I was just able to see him disappear into the bathroom with a towel. That was the good thing about this hotel, they had many towels in the closet. I didn't know why, maybe this room had been a storage area for the towels while it was vacant.
An hour later, we were on the road again. This time, I directed our little procession of two toward the North. When Martin asked where we were going, I merely shrugged in reply. I was getting too much like Zack. Not a good thing, but some habits die hard.
The sector police out of California were very nosy. Martin was all for going a long way around them, through the words, but I put up a hand, stopping him. "Where you going, boy?" I asked. Shaking my head, I turned back to the sector police.
"We'll just pass through now, we clear," I said, starting to walk. Martin looked a little askew until the sector police said:
"Pass through now, all clear."
I giggled. I liked this part of being psychic. It was fun being able to mess around with people's minds. They wouldn't realize it was happening if I was careful.
"What was that?" Martin asked when we were a respectable distance away from the sector police.
"Ancient Jedi Mind Trick," I told him, my face serious. Then I started laughing. "Goodness, that was so much fun. Most of the other sector police were lax and didn't care if we got through or not. This one cared about his job," I tapped my two index fingers and my middle fingers together. "Jolly good job, ole chap."
"It was done so quickly! You didn't look at all as if you were meditating," Martin glanced back at the almost disappeared station. "How?"
I gave him a pensive side-glance as we started jogging along the edge of the road. "Haven't you been practicing?" I asked him, biting my lower lip.
"Of course, but I still meditate for at least half an hour before I get any results," Martin stopped for a few seconds to tie his shoe, then ran to catch up with me. "Frances is getting pretty good. She can stand while meditating and she'll be able to get into the mind and see what the person is thinking in five minutes! How far are you along?"
Martin's question was met with silence. I had met and passed Frannie's level of ability almost three years ago. Why was it that I was able to go so much further along than my brothers and sisters? They had basically the same DNA as I had. I decided not to answer; Martin decided not to pursue the subject.
[gray thoughts]
"Mom!" I call out. I have just gotten home from school. Jaci and Meg are behind me, giggling and pushing each other. I run to my room with them and we put our backpacks on the hooks in my closet. "Mom! Dad!" I call again. I sneeze twice. I start to giggle with Jaci and Meg, because I know I looked funny when I sneezed.
Bling walks into my room. "Hello, m'ladies," he says, handing us each a banana. "If you'll be so kind as to eat your snack at the table, I will fetch the King and Queen of the household's note."
Jaci, Meg, and I start to pinch each other as we follow Bling out of my room. He hands me a note with Mom's scribbled message on it. It says GONE ON ONE OF DAD'S PROJECTS. FRIENDS CAN STAY THE NIGHT. I show it to Meg and Jaci.
"Call Emy and Jeanne!" Jaci demands. I hold up a hand.
"Wait, if we invite Emy and Jeanne, we'll have to invite Anna and Sue, so that means we'll have to sleep out in the living room and watch TV," I tell them, grinning. We run into my room to get phone book. "Where in the world is it?" I ask as we search the room. I can't find anything. Finally, without thinking, I just open my door and go into their heads to retrieve the phone numbers. It seems natural. "Got them," I say as I grab the phone off the table by my doorway and dial.
Its only after I finish talking to the girls do I realize what I had done. For the first time, I didn't need to meditate to go into a head. I am so proud of myself.
[/gray thoughts]
We jogged most of the day. We didn't meet anymore sector police that posed as much of a danger. We didn't stop for lunch or breakfast at all, I wasn't hungry. I asked Martin a few times if he wanted to stop, but he just shook his head no. Don't get me wrong, after a few hours of solid running, we did stop and do some power resting. We just didn't stop and eat. We didn't see many places to eat, anyway.
Around sunset, Martin asked again, "Why are we heading north?" This time, I decided to answer him.
"I have family up north. Haven't seen them in two years, but they'll be glad to know I'm alive," I told him, looking at the trees on my right. They were so large, so tall, it looked as if civilization hadn't happened there. Of course, the road running through the middle of them was a big turn off. I wanted to go through the woods and just play, but I knew it wasn't a good idea. Might miss something important on the road.
"Family?" Martin questioned, brushing his hair out of his eyes.
"My Mom and Dad," I explained. "They got a place in Seattle."
"Why aren't they on the loop of your whereabouts?" Martin was eyeing a squirrel with an appraising look; I decided the next town we came to would be our bunking grounds. Martin was probably at that very moment thinking of ways to roast that squirrel.
"Had to leave. 'Deck was a little closer to getting me, so I went to France for a while," I pointed to a sign -- three more miles until the next town.
"Gotcha. Keep your ass out of hot water," Martin sped up slightly. Smiling, I matched his pace.