Chapter 2: The Woman without a Past

Kokomo, Indiana June 6, 1999

"Bye mom, I'm off to work! See ya later!" 18 year-old Kayla Marie Rodchester called out merrily as she ran out joyously to her car, stopping to turn around to wave to her mother. "Tell Cye I'll see him later." With that last remark, she climbed into her car and took off down the lonely country road.

It's so peaceful out here in the morning Kayla thought as she watched the beautiful country scenery passing by her. Suddenly a huge explosion broke the silence as its impact shook the ground around it, "Looks like I spoke to soon. Oh well, better go check it out."

This place is huge... Kayla thought to herself as she climbed into the meteor and began exploring it. Wait what's that? she pondered silently as her gaze fell upon a young woman who was lying at the bottom of the meteor.

I-it's a young woman… and she's been terribly hurt she thought in panic as she looked down and saw a shallow pool of blood that had surrounded the girl's body. I must help her slowly she knelt down by the girl's side and carefully slid her arms under the girl's body, stood up, and headed towards her car, wincing as the girl's broken bones shifted with her movement.

As soon as Kayla reached her car, she immediately threw open the back door and carefully laid the girl down on the seat, making sure she was comfortable before she shut the door, jumped in the driver's seat, and sped off towards the hospital where she worked.

"Will she be all right Dr. Thompson?" Kayla asked as the man in question led her down the hallway to the girl's room.

"The amount of damage her body sustained was severe, her internal organs were missing chunks and the internal bleeding was just as bad. But we managed to repair that damage by using a new and very radical procedure which involved replacing the missing pieces of her organs with an experimental kind of cyber-genetic muscle tissue, which is very high functioning and durable. We also used the same material to patch deep external wounds on her as well. Now I know may look strange but I assure you she is perfectly fine and she'll need you to help her through this."

"It won't be easy…" she sighed as she stared at the sleeping figure in her bed through the surveillance window.

"No one ever said it would be…but she needs you Kayla." Dr Thompson said as he gently put his hand on her shoulder.

Slowly Kayla opened the door and slid quietly into the room. As she did, the sleeping figure moaned softly and drew her curled up body into an even tighter ball. Unaffected by the girl's reaction, she walked across the room and prepared to gently shake her when the girl suddenly relaxed a little.

"Shin…"

Startled, Kayla instantly pulled her hand away from the sleeping girl and stared at her in awe. "She has the beauty of a goddess but the battle scars of a soldier. Just who is she?" she pondered out loud as she reached forward again and gently shook the girl who slowly and painfully rolled onto her back and turned her head to look for the source of the voice.

"Who…who are you? Where is Shin?" the girl asked as she stared at Kayla with fear shining in her large silver eyes.

"I'm Kayla Marie Rodchester and I'm here to take care of you."

"What happened to me?" she asked in a hoarse voice, her eyes never leaving Kayla's.

"You were in a terrible accident and the doctors here had to operate on you…to fix you. Do you remember anything about it?" she inquired as she stared at the girl who was struggling to pull herself into a sitting position, and then leaned over to help her.

"No I don't remember…" she said as she quietly bowed her head and looked away.

"Do you remember your friends?"

"Let me think for a moment…" she said as she leaned her forehead against the palm of her hand and furrowed her brow in concentration. "No nothing…I can't remember anything. Wait…wait a minute I…I can remember Shin."

"Shin, you mentioned him earlier. Who is he?"

"He's my brother…but I don't remember that much about him. We were separated from each other when we were very young." She said quietly as tears slowly began to well up in her eyes.

"I'm very sorry…" Kayla whispered as she looked down at the ground, unsure of what to say to the girl. "Um…could you tell me what he looked like? We might be able to find him if we know what he looks like."

"The last time I saw him he was six years old, he was very short and had sea-green eyes with strawberry blonde hair. He was very sweet and kind, and he loved the sea. Even though we're no longer together, I can feel him right by me…guiding and protecting me. I would know him if I saw him today."

"Do you remember anything else about your life?"

"No…I… I can't." Here the girl suddenly broke down sobbing as her body shook with her sobs. "I can't remember anything. I have no memories of my life until this point and to make things worse I'm a freak!"

"No you're not a freak!" Kayla said firmly as she put an arm around the sobbing young woman. "You just had to have some cyber-genetic muscle tissue put inside you to help fix you. If anything you'd be considered a cyborg, part human and part robot. I know things are looking grim right now, but don't worry it'll be all right, you'll see."

"Thank you Kayla." The girl said as she looked at the girl sitting beside her and smiled.