After putting it off for a really long time I decided to post the whole story of Carina on this site. Up till now there was a Beta reader but you will just have to muddle through my bad grammar, sorry . The sequels in the Forest of the Night and Carina and Jake are unfinished but I will be posting what is written.



Just in case someone missed this post back at the old board here the last one before the update I'm about to post. Yah!!!!(kermit style)

1. Carina 16
(the knight in shiny armor)

Max sat in the cave waiting for darkness. Just two more hours and she could risk entering the compound. Mentally she was traveling the hallways of Manticore in her mind, trying to ignore the phantom child soldiers that came along with doing that. The doctor's kept the records on disks. Copies were made and stored in a protective case that was kept in Lydecker's office. She knew her enemy. She knew he would keep those disks until the day he died as a reminder of his failure.

Max suddenly went on full alert as she heard a branch crunch outside. She ran to the back of the cave and hid. She wanted to stalk whomever it was from next to the opening, pounce as they entered. She wanted to beat something up to get out her frustrations but to fight would announce her presence and for Carina's sake she couldn't risk it.

The footsteps echoed louder and louder, at least to her supersensitive hearing, until whomever it was, was inside. Manticore never use to do sweeps of it's land but after the pulse surveillance may be different or maybe she tripped a wire somewhere without knowing it.

"Max," she heard a familiar voice whisper. Her head popped out from the rock she was hiding behind to find Zack searching the cave for her.

"Zack?" she questioned as she stepped out. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he said disapprovingly. "I got a call, said you were in trouble, that you were coming back here." Max tried to control her irritation at the knight in shiny armor bit that he was trying to play.

"I didn't come back to catch up on old times with Deck," she spat out.

"They why are you here?" Zack said irritably. He already had to kill one man to cover her careless irrational behavior but this was Manticore. This was the place where they could take your soul away if there was such a thing. He knew she was probably just looking for more info on her siblings.

"Carina is dying."

"What?" Zack said completely blown away. "That's impossible, I just saw her a few days ago and she was fine."

"She had a bad date with a scrambling signal and now she's gotta get some of the chips replaced before times up." He sat there for a moment, sentimentality freezing him. He hadn't lost one since the night of the escape but he wasn't about to start now.

"What's the plan," he said snapping himself out of his daze.

"Break into Lydecker's office, grab some disks, and don't get caught."

"That's your plan?" He asked in disbelief. "What was walking into the compound and yelling, come and get me not good enough." Her eyes narrowed at him.

"Unlike some people I actually passed the breaking and entering part of our training," They stood there for a moment in silence glaring at each other. If there had been any more animal DNA in them you probably would have heard growls and snarls. Max suddenly backed down as the image of Carina flashed through her head. "This is getting us nowhere. I didn't ask you to come Zack."

"No, but you should have Maxie."

"Either pitch in or go home," she snapped back.

"I'm in but I don't like this," he said backing down.

"I don't either but we don't have a choice," she said trying to pull back on her harshness. "We have to save her." They sat in silence for the next few hours reviewing what they knew about Manticore security and the layout of the buildings. When Zack finally gave the "move out" order she instinctively followed him.

I just got a new idea!!! But you'll have to read to the end to find it. I can't spoil it now.

1. Carina 17
(uneasy silence)

Distinct little cross hatches of darkness patterned her face and it looked as though they were a tattoo she stood so still. Young Max was crouched in the air duct looking out through the grate into Lydecker's office. High up in the room, it was the kind of place you would only look at if you had the time to relax and look around and Lydecker was a busy man. Right now he sat talking to an older doctor.

"Do you think that the problem will be corrected in the next group?" Deck asked. You could see the glint of pleasure in his eyes whenever he talked about creating and training more kids. Max swore he looked about to drool.

"The seizures appear to be a side effect to so much manipulation. It may not be avoidable in the future but we may be able to come up with treatments to fix the kids effected." He felt like adding some phrase about the side effects of playing God but this man never seemed in a joking mood. Deck nodded and The good doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a zip disk. Handing it across the table Deck took it and set it on the desk.

"You're dismissed," He said without looking the man in the eye. The doctor did not expect a thank you or any of those pleasantries simply nodded and left.

Lydecker waited for the man to leave before picking up the desk and a silver box on his desk. He opened the box and Little Max zoomed in for a better look. It was a long disk holder with what looked to have a special casing. Inside he flipped through little separators that had their names, not barcodes written on them. He stopped at one labeled "Soh". He stopped almost as if to give his reverence to the soldier before placing the disk in it's place. Max watched him with contempt. She knew he was probably thinking how Soh's sacrifice was for the good of the group. But she saw it all. After he collapsed on the floor, seizing, they dragged him away, she say them do the tests. In her heart she knew they're probably what killed him. The information inside him was worth more than his life.

Deck closed the lid and she was suddenly thrown back to the present. She was back in that grate above Lydecker's office but this time Zack was guarding her escape route. She took a deep breath and popped the grating off, having cut the screws years ago, and placed it to the side. She pushed herself out up to her waist and grasped the edge of hole with her hands. She tucked her head and pulled her feet out gracefully. She lowered them until all of her was held to the wall. She let go and landed silently in a crouch on the floor. Standing up she stalked over to the desk, to the box she knew would be there.

Sure enough it was and she flipped it open and searched Carina's section. It wasn't truly surprising for Max to find new names in the box. She did a mental inventory of the names and amount of disks each new soldiers had and the small amount of disks of some of the names she knew once. There were still a few X5's that seem to be alive and well. She only hoped not to meet one tonight.

Max found Carina's disks and pocketed them. She shut the box and looked around to make sure everything was still in place before creeping over to the duct and pulling herself up and through it. Max crawled back to Zack and they left. That was it. No dogs to catch them, no soldiers to accidentally spot them and Max felt an uneasy silence settle over everything. It was way too quiet.

There was no way Max or Zack could have heard her their stalker. Her wild feline DNA gave her an unfair advantage when the other Manticore trainees when learning to stalk but Jade had a thrill for it, and that made her even better. She was on leave but teaching these trespassers a lesson could be just the holiday she needed

Carina 17b
(he's not the bad guy)

1. I sat in the corner with my arms laid across my knees and my head down. For the first hour my mind was blank except for the memories of the time I had spent with her which seemed to be on looped play. The more I saw her face and remembered her words the more frustrated I got. I should have said something else. I should have assured her more. I should have said I loved her….there, I said it. I know I've only know her for such a short amount of time but now it feels like she's been there forever. It's the same feeling you get when you think of a childhood friend. They've always been there even if they weren't in the spotlight.

The second hour I shook myself out of my daze and look around. There were solemn faces all around. Sebastian sat at his consol watching the progression of the doctors. Secretly I think he was thrilled at the opportunity to take a look at her technology. But he was saving her and I guess his motivations did matter.

Max sat curled up on Logan's lap and every once in a while they had a whispered conversation. When it would end Max would look away worried. Logan would tuck her head back under his chin and stroke her hair. Max had her moments of temper, believe me I would never forget those times she stormed out on Logan but this was something I had never seen before. The tough Manticore soldier looked as helpless as a lost kitten.

From the corner of my sight I could see that that man was still staring at me. He had come back with Max and left again with her to steal the chips from a research lab at the Microcorp building. It was a little comforting at least that occasionally her would stop watching me and glare at Max and Logan for a while. I said a little comforting. He wasn't that big but the way he stood with his arms folded, showing off his biceps, it was an attempt to intimidate me…It was working. This had to be Carina's brother, I guessed, although I wasn't brave enough to find out.

When the surgery was over Max and Logan left to get Chinese food, leaving me alone with the international staring contest champion. I still didn't talk to him until the food arrived. I asked him if he wanted a fork and he grunted something and took it from me. The following silence was broken by Max, who was feeling somewhat more together than before.

"Oh will you stop it," she yelled at Zack. I tried to play off my burst of laugher by pretending I had choked on some rice and gasped out that I would be okay. That, of course, granted me another stare. I'm sorry but the guy takes the whole macho thing to far. I keep expecting him to say something like "they mine, you go now," in choppy caveman speak. "Things are hard enough without you playing guard dog. He's not the bad guy," Max spat out. He of course glared back definitely.

"Oh yeah," he yelled angrily, "Then why 'is' she in this mess." He had gestured back in the room where Carina lay recovering. And that's where Max fell silent with her mouth part way open. I froze with relived guilt. She knew she had done a bad in telling Zack what had happened. That still didn't change anything. It was still my fault. Max looked to me apologetically but I averted my eyes. The only thing I knew to do was get up and leave. So I did. "Maybe I should leave then to take care of her" was the idea running through my head. "I love her but I almost killed her" was all I could think about.
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I was going to get this beta read, which you might realize why after reading, but it didn't happen. If you have any thing you want me to explain in further posts just tell me. -puppy

1. Carina 18
(reprogrammed)

Carina suddenly sat bolt upright and tried to cough but something was stopping her. She reached up and pulled out a long tube they had shoved down her throat. She gagged as she pulled it out of her mouth and looked at it with disgust as she threw it aside. She went to say something to make sure her voice chords were still working but she couldn't think of what to say. Her mind couldn't reach for anything relevant enough.

Instinctively she looked to the chair beside her. In it there was a blond man fast asleep. She tried to think if she had met him before but her mind drew a blank. Suddenly there was a flash and the figure changed. The new person had dark brown hair and was taller. Then as soon as it had change it flickered back. She looked away in panic. Something was wrong. She knew she was suppose to be here but where was here.

"You know my mother once told me," her head snapped around searching for the voice that echoed around her, "that I would never see my dream girl if I was looking so hard at computers. I think she would be pleasantly surprised to find herself wrong." Carina knew she'd never heard that line before but it sounded like it was to her. Again her reality began to shift as she was suddenly in a different room. There were red walls all around and she was lying in a bed. She looked up into the eyes of a man her age. It was the one in the chair, the one with the dark brown hair. She now noticed that he had most beautiful dark brown eyes. She would have added "that she had ever seen" but well that didn't really mean much. Carina looked at him and whined then pulled the covers back over her head. "No wait," she thought to herself. "What are you doing? I want to see him again." She realized then that it must be a memory because she couldn't control her actions, only watch.

"Your not allowed to be charming." She heard herself say.

"Is it against the rules," he laughed. She smiled inwardly at the warm and fuzzes his laugh gave her.

"Most definitely. You have to go now before I do something unadvisable," she again heard herself say but she was thinking, "No wait don't go. I didn't meant that."

"Like what?" He asked curiously

"Either hit you or kiss you which ever reflex takes over." If she could have had her mouth open in shock of what she had just said it definitely would have been. She felt the sheet being pulled down again and her past self squeezed her eyes shut trying to refrain from doing anything except bite her lower lip.

"I'll take my chances," Jake said as he brushed her lips with a light kiss. Reluctantly she released her lower lip from her teeth and started to kiss him back.

Carina found herself back in the hospital looking room kissing the air. Instead of panicked she completely calm and relaxed. She looked around the room, which was held in an eerie silence, and she found it empty of people. That's when she saw it, the computer across the room. The screen was blinking and it began admitting a soft, repetitive beep. She got up off the table and when over to it. On the screen it was blinking "Enter command." The minute she saw that she stepped backward and tripped over some lab equipment and landed on the floor. Panic was written on her face as she scooted backwards away from the computer. She couldn't remember what had happened but she knew if she did what it asked something would take over her life again. "No I can't," she cried. "I don't want to please don't make me." The beeping grew louder and louder. It filled the room until every thing seemed to become charged by its presence. She clutched her head and screamed as loud and for as long as she could. When she had stopped the beeping had as well. She opened her eyes and looked up at the screen. On it was a message. An older female voice in her head spoke the words as she read them.

"You must enter the command. It will keep you safe. I will keep you safe. I promise." She looked at it in shock. Something was different. She then realized that a piece of her was missing. The thing that she feared was the command not the voice.

"What's going on?" she asked it. Words began to scroll across the screen as the voice spoke again.

"You have been reprogrammed by Sebastian."

"Reprogrammed?" she said feeling a little angry at the intrusion. "But how?"

"Using AI technology developed at Microcorp."

"So your part of me any more," she said almost sadly.

"No but I will be with you always. Please speak the command."

She took a deep breath and said clearly, "Initiate run command." She watched as the computer entered the command and began to initiate it's programming. It opened a clean up program that deleted the information downloaded during the scramble. The dark haired man appeared in her mind. "Jake," she said happily. Her memory was coming back. She remembered where she was, how she got here. The clean up program completed and the computer started a systems check. It was a strange feeling for her. Carina usually was an active part of these programs but now they ran themselves. She didn't know how to feel about it.

"Can you hear my thoughts?" she blurted out.

"Normally I will be unable to hear only what you speak. I had to create this graphical interface to make it easier on you to communicate. In the future I will only hear what you speak and will respond only when you need me."

"But what happens when I don't ask for you. Are you turned off?"

"No I will be on standby."

"Doesn't that bother you?" Carina asked. Most people would only think that it being only a computer it did matter what happened when it shut off. Carina use to be a computer however and she felt guilt over the situation.

"I was programmed to assist you in maintaining your functions. That is my only programming." Carina thought for a moment. This AI must being created to maintain a system somewhere it was the only likely possibility.

"What do I call you?"

"Sondra, It means helper or defender of mankind."

"That's fitting I guess,"

"Your medical status is sufficient. Are you ready to go back?" Carina couldn't help but smile; she would get to see Jake.

"Yes of course."

Carina 19
(Cat got your tongue)
On last weeks episode:
"Oh yeah," Zack yelled angrily, "Then why 'is' she in this mess." He had gestured back in the room where Carina lay recovering. And that's where Max fell silent with her mouth part way open. I froze with relived guilt. She knew she had done a bad in telling Zack what had happened. That still didn't change anything. It was still my fault.

1. Max looked to me apologetically but I averted my eyes. The only thing I knew to do was get up and leave. So I did. "Maybe I should leave them to take care of her" was the idea running through my head. "I love her but I almost killed her" was all I could think about.
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Jake walked out the door to the street. A cool breeze swept past him and for a moment he imagined that none of this was real. He would go home and help his mother get dinner ready. The guilt would be gone and she would be somewhere hacking into a computer happily. As horrible as it made him feel a little voice inside him protested, "but then you never would have meet her."

"You make me not want to give that up," her words echoed through his head. He gave a grunt of frustration and leaned again the nearby brick wall. He slid down it to the sidewalk and held his head in his hands.

"Why did she have to be so God damned wonderful," he muttered to himself. He kept telling himself that she would be okay but something inside kept reminding him of his guilt.

"What's got you so blue little bird?" he heard a gentle voice ask. He looked ahead to see a pair of black leather pants. They made a stretching sound as the woman suddenly kneeled down to his level. Her dark eyes hid something dangerous and cold. He felt all the blood run cold under her gaze. Before he could blink she had his arms pinned down with a knife at his throat. "Cat got your tongue," she said with a little delight. He tried to struggle but she was remarkably strong. I suddenly dawned on him where she must be from.

"What do you want?" he spat out. He might not be Carina's best line of defense but he was going to give up her up just yet.

"No the question is what do you want," she said before getting very serious. "What did they take from Lydecker's office?"

"His River Dance tape," Jake said smiling, "They just couldn't live without it." His attacker smiled back and removed the knife from his throat. With it she traced down the side of his face and brushed it across his lips. She stared at them while she talked.

"Since you don't exactly seem the leader of this little band I don't think they'll mind too much if I cut out your tongue," she suddenly looked him in the eye. "But I really don't think that would be necessary. I think you're going to tell me all I need to know," she said in a dark voice.

Just then Max decided to barge out the door. Before she had clear the door she began to say, "Jake, Carina's going to be…" She stopped suddenly and dropped into a fighting stance as she saw the figure in black leaning over him. The woman smiled and stood up, ignoring Jake completely. "Who are you?" Max barked but the woman completely ignored her question. She didn't even drop into a fighting stance.

"Let see," she said thoughtfully, "Carina huh. That means you must be either Tinga or Max." Max was shocked. She compared the woman's face to the ones she knew at Manticore.

"Jade?" she asked uncertainly. The woman clapped as she circles around Max.

"Give the girl a prize. So that would make the blond either Grit or Zack. My guess is Zack. He always was the little shepherd." Jade did a fake lunge at Max and laughed when she twitched.

"What happened to you?" Max said with a sad expression
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To be continued