Chapter Three: The Alternative Solution
"Deyana," Julio's Indian accent called me out of my room. I peered up into the small mirror that sat on my nightstand, half buried by books. I had never been extremely attractive, and I was even less so now with my ear-length, brown hair, all kinky because I never did anything with it. My skin had cleared with age, but worry lines had indented themselves, making me look roughly thirty. Oh, but my eyes were blue and still sharp.
"So, how are you going to test this?" Julio stopped me barely a couple yards out of my room. "What makes you so sure this time? I thought all that ball did was keep the electrical currents between the original brain and the transplanted organic parts smooth?"
"Yes, I causes them to function as a whole, but we've discussed a thousand times how human memory and emotions get in the way of that, and to keep functioning as a whole, the human memory would need to be manipulated."
"It does that? You said it was built into the brain additions or with some kind of chemical?" I smiled simply at Julio.
"I thought so, until last time. I took the ball out, and I noticed there was a change in the brain wave patterns. It makes sense, and I'd like to test my theory."
"How?" Julio asked again, but I gently moved past him. I didn't know how, but admitting that would be a terrible blow to my pride.
Dan was no where to be seen, which was probably for the better, since he hated all my dissections, and this idea hadn't pleased him too much, although he hardly knew what my goals were. 'Destroy the source' was all Dan talked about, but I had no idea where the source was located, and besides, that would take numbers, and the indirect route was the best way to go.
I stared down at the winger, lying on the table, and I poked it with blunt metal. The shining, yellow eyes that were a mix of a cat and bat's stared up at me, but other than that, no motion came from the winger. The eyes twitched every which way, taking in every part of this strange surrounding. I looked up at Julio, who was concentrating, using his change ability to sense emotions, although I forbid him to use his talent to sense mine, and he obliged. Julio's brow wrinkled while his eyes widened, first from the effort, and then, from shock. "Two tests right there," I muttered under my breath, watching the winger's eyes follow me across the room as I came into a lighted area, fully in its view.
"Emotions," Julio mouthed wordlessly as I rolled my eyes. Julio was slow on the uptake today.
"Morning," I checked my watch to see it read eight fifteen, and a slightly uncomfortable feeling overcame me as I said, "Hello, my name is Deyana Orbligano, and I'd like to have a sort of one sided chat, since your mouth can't make any intelligent sounds. You may, however, respond with a nod of your head for yes, and a shake of your head for no, if you would like impute or to answer a question. Understand?"
The winger gave a nod. Comprehension, a trait of the human brain, worked well enough so far. I had never seen creatures comprehend speech before, or show nonassertive awareness to their environments, and I dissected a couple of them live before.
"You're in a very secret, and also very remote, laboratory," the winger nodded for understanding. "It has been ten years since the change occurred, and you were.older than ten then?" I made an age guess. The winger shook its head. "Older than five?" The winger nodded. "Older than seven?" The winger nodded. "Eight?" The winger shook its head. "Okay, you were nine, so it's been five years since your sad birthday." The winger nodded for understanding, and I paced across the room. I picked up a piece of paper and took notes. "You were a female?" The winger nodded as I scratched 'female' on the piece of paper, turning back to the winger. "Do you member any part after your sad birthday?" The winger shook her head. I scribbled down 'Memory blank during time as creature with silver ball.'
"As I was saying, I'm Deyana, and I was twelve when the change happened, but I was a genius to begin with, and my change talent enhanced that, and to make it short and brief, I've spent the past ten years trying to figure out how the overlords manipulate the human brain while in the creature bodies and how to reverse the process." I popped out the silver ball from a gel casing, and showed it to the winger. "This was in your head, erasing and manipulating your brain by shutting out your human memories and consciousness."
The winger's head smacked against the table as she jerked it back from the silver sphere. I dropped the sphere back into the casing, putting it away, while scribbling, 'Definite reaction to silver sphere.' "My comrade, Dan, would like to destroy the source of the overlord's power, but since we haven't the faintest idea what that is, I'm going to get a little troupe of my own together, so when the discovery comes, there'll be a group to fight the overlords. The odds are ridiculously terrible with free humans right now." I paced back and forth a little in front or the winger, staring at the golden eyes and occasionally to the jars all securely strapped on shelves.
"See, to learn more about the overlords, I'm going to need some help," I looked directly at the winger. "I need another winger to figure out something, and I'd like you to go with Dan and Julio to get one for me." The winger nodded, and I felt the slight smile creep over my face. This winger wasn't going to be the answer to the manipulation of the human mind, though. I need to learn a little more about vocal abilities and ideas of how to humanize the winger's sounds floated to my brain. The only thing my human-minded winger needed was a voice. I knew I was smiling.
"Deyana," Julio's Indian accent called me out of my room. I peered up into the small mirror that sat on my nightstand, half buried by books. I had never been extremely attractive, and I was even less so now with my ear-length, brown hair, all kinky because I never did anything with it. My skin had cleared with age, but worry lines had indented themselves, making me look roughly thirty. Oh, but my eyes were blue and still sharp.
"So, how are you going to test this?" Julio stopped me barely a couple yards out of my room. "What makes you so sure this time? I thought all that ball did was keep the electrical currents between the original brain and the transplanted organic parts smooth?"
"Yes, I causes them to function as a whole, but we've discussed a thousand times how human memory and emotions get in the way of that, and to keep functioning as a whole, the human memory would need to be manipulated."
"It does that? You said it was built into the brain additions or with some kind of chemical?" I smiled simply at Julio.
"I thought so, until last time. I took the ball out, and I noticed there was a change in the brain wave patterns. It makes sense, and I'd like to test my theory."
"How?" Julio asked again, but I gently moved past him. I didn't know how, but admitting that would be a terrible blow to my pride.
Dan was no where to be seen, which was probably for the better, since he hated all my dissections, and this idea hadn't pleased him too much, although he hardly knew what my goals were. 'Destroy the source' was all Dan talked about, but I had no idea where the source was located, and besides, that would take numbers, and the indirect route was the best way to go.
I stared down at the winger, lying on the table, and I poked it with blunt metal. The shining, yellow eyes that were a mix of a cat and bat's stared up at me, but other than that, no motion came from the winger. The eyes twitched every which way, taking in every part of this strange surrounding. I looked up at Julio, who was concentrating, using his change ability to sense emotions, although I forbid him to use his talent to sense mine, and he obliged. Julio's brow wrinkled while his eyes widened, first from the effort, and then, from shock. "Two tests right there," I muttered under my breath, watching the winger's eyes follow me across the room as I came into a lighted area, fully in its view.
"Emotions," Julio mouthed wordlessly as I rolled my eyes. Julio was slow on the uptake today.
"Morning," I checked my watch to see it read eight fifteen, and a slightly uncomfortable feeling overcame me as I said, "Hello, my name is Deyana Orbligano, and I'd like to have a sort of one sided chat, since your mouth can't make any intelligent sounds. You may, however, respond with a nod of your head for yes, and a shake of your head for no, if you would like impute or to answer a question. Understand?"
The winger gave a nod. Comprehension, a trait of the human brain, worked well enough so far. I had never seen creatures comprehend speech before, or show nonassertive awareness to their environments, and I dissected a couple of them live before.
"You're in a very secret, and also very remote, laboratory," the winger nodded for understanding. "It has been ten years since the change occurred, and you were.older than ten then?" I made an age guess. The winger shook its head. "Older than five?" The winger nodded. "Older than seven?" The winger nodded. "Eight?" The winger shook its head. "Okay, you were nine, so it's been five years since your sad birthday." The winger nodded for understanding, and I paced across the room. I picked up a piece of paper and took notes. "You were a female?" The winger nodded as I scratched 'female' on the piece of paper, turning back to the winger. "Do you member any part after your sad birthday?" The winger shook her head. I scribbled down 'Memory blank during time as creature with silver ball.'
"As I was saying, I'm Deyana, and I was twelve when the change happened, but I was a genius to begin with, and my change talent enhanced that, and to make it short and brief, I've spent the past ten years trying to figure out how the overlords manipulate the human brain while in the creature bodies and how to reverse the process." I popped out the silver ball from a gel casing, and showed it to the winger. "This was in your head, erasing and manipulating your brain by shutting out your human memories and consciousness."
The winger's head smacked against the table as she jerked it back from the silver sphere. I dropped the sphere back into the casing, putting it away, while scribbling, 'Definite reaction to silver sphere.' "My comrade, Dan, would like to destroy the source of the overlord's power, but since we haven't the faintest idea what that is, I'm going to get a little troupe of my own together, so when the discovery comes, there'll be a group to fight the overlords. The odds are ridiculously terrible with free humans right now." I paced back and forth a little in front or the winger, staring at the golden eyes and occasionally to the jars all securely strapped on shelves.
"See, to learn more about the overlords, I'm going to need some help," I looked directly at the winger. "I need another winger to figure out something, and I'd like you to go with Dan and Julio to get one for me." The winger nodded, and I felt the slight smile creep over my face. This winger wasn't going to be the answer to the manipulation of the human mind, though. I need to learn a little more about vocal abilities and ideas of how to humanize the winger's sounds floated to my brain. The only thing my human-minded winger needed was a voice. I knew I was smiling.