2011 REVISION
Original FFN Intro:
The hunt is on! In the days after the release of the first Saint, it is discovered that a New Feather has been lost. It must be found before evil finds it.
Original FFN#2056698
Originally Published 9/14/2004
HAIBANE-RENMEI: COPRORATION
Chapter Three
CASE FILE
By R. A. Stott
Case: Un-named Haibane 02-572A4B77e
Event: Unscheduled arrival in Glie – Apogee Report missed due to injector failure – subject lost in orbit while in perigee - Subject's original port destination - the walled town of Tripoli - Injector failure responsible for overshoot.
Results: Because the planting went unreported until now, it is unknown where the subject is, where it landed, or condition that they are in – Situation inconclusive. Groups 2, 7 and 10 are to start a sweep of Glie in search of this lost Haibane. Local Community Watch are to be brought in as well.
It's a hot summer's day.
I think I'll take a dip in the pool.
A boy is running along the other side from me... he's yelling at me in a childish way. It's too hot to listen... I just want to get myself into the cool water...
Why that brat! He pushed me! He pushed me headlong into the pool! This is the shallow end!
I feel the back of my neck smack the concrete floor of the pool as I flop across the steps out. I see the sun as a million balls of light. My body feels numb. The lights pull away and I feel as if the pool's drain has been opened. I'm being swept down by the water, my soul being dispensed in a torrent of fluid gushing through a pipe.
Darkness... why is it dark? Have I been in the water that long? It feels warmer now. There are bubbles all around me. I see a dim light above me. I feel as if I'm being thrown at that light, as if I were a missile launched from a submarine. It's growing larger. The darkness wanes as the multitude of shimmering objects greet me.
I burst out of the water and into the sky. I'm flying? This is odd... That must have been some bump I got from...
...got from...
...Bump? What bump? What am I thinking? What am I doing over the ocean? Why are there seagulls all around me? Ohhhh... Wasn't I climbing just a moment ago? I'm not climbing any further, am I? I seem to be slowing down... slowing... oh! OooooaaaaaaAAAHH!
I tumble, spin, uncontrollably twist and turn as the wind is making my decent a rough one. I see the water rushing back to greet me – no... no wait, it's a town! Or at least it was a town... I seem to be heading away from it... heading... down! DOWN! oh... oh... OH... OH!
"The facilities in Glie are overloaded as it is," Ptolemy noted as he read the report. "What is it that keeps drawing New Feathers there and not the main facility in Tripoli?"
"You're the chief scientist, Claude, not I," Plato said as he leaned back from the board table. "You're supposed to be the one with the answers..."
"My answer would be that they shouldn't land here at all," the old man said as he rubbed his glasses with a hanky. "This injector failure just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Glie has four new Haibane, two of which hatched yesterday, and Bakuu of the Seventh Realm launching, the poor town isn't ready for yet another problem."
"It's not that Tripoli could take any of them either, Professor," a man in a doctor's lab coat said. "The few strays that land in the other six zones only slightly relieve the overpopulation problems Tripoli is having."
Ptolemy rubbed his eyes. "Yes, yes Hipp... I didn't mean it to sound as if sending them to Tripoli was the answer... It's just that the facilities we set up there are still more prepared to handle these rapid influxes than the other zones."
"Then maybe its time we updated the facilities in the other zones," a man next to Ptolemy's wife said. "After all, more are falling in the other zones now than ever, and the facilities in Tripoli should be given a well earned rest."
"Virgil is correct," Plato noted from the head of the table, "but now is not the time for that discussion. We must first discover where the lost soul is. Word from upstairs is not good. They confirmed that the soul did not arrive, so that leaves us responsible for its safety, if the basement doesn't acknowledge that it didn't go there."
"Well we know how much they're willing to respond," Dante grumbled.
"Now – now, my dear Dante," Plato quelled him. "You must remain mindful of who they are and who they represent. They can't always help themselves."
"Bull," Dante snorted. "They know. Then again, upstairs can be just as bull-headed..."
Janice giggled. The rest of the table joined her as well.
What is this? I'm in water again, but this time it's warm and sweet. I seem to be inside some strange ball. Its sides are soft and mushy, and I get large handfuls of stuff in my fingers if I reach out and grab at it.
I hear water flowing somewhere. I can see some light coming through where I grabbed at the walls. It's a dim light – not much more than flashes. But from what I can see, it is otherwise dark on the other side of this wall.
I am tired... oh so tired... I just want to rest... and sleep... I've been here for so long...
Docket 472... Case File #02-572A4B77e... Week Two...
"There still has been no sign of our stray Haibane in Glie," Ptolemy reported to the board at the next meeting. "All groups searching have found nothing. Even the heavy scanning equipment we brought in came up with a big fat zero. We are running out of time as well... normal gestation time for a cocoon is about eleven to thirteen days."
Janice brought up an image of a map of Glie from her computer. "We have concentrated our search in these areas along the re-entry path we thought it may have taken. But I have a theory that it may have been hidden to us because of this landing..." She pointed to the area listed as the site the New Feather that had planted in the southern area had taken. "We saw the approach of this Haibane seedling just after we first regained our system readings after the first injector failure and just before the second time we lost the con. By analyzing the mass-to-landing readings, we find that there is a significant loss of energy as compared to when we regained the readings here."
"And it wouldn't have just burned off?" Dante wearily asked. He looked haggard and worn.
"No, and neither was it a sensor flair. When a seedling lands, all of the energy is put into the landing," Ptolemy noted. "The energy has to transfer into the mass that becomes the Haibane, or only a part would form... Interesting... So what do you think happened?"
She looked at the projected map and the first track. "Well if we plot the original landing spot for the rogue New Feather here in the western woods, and overlay a fast landing that came in roughly fifteen minutes between scans, given that the outage was that long, the angle of trajectory from the Tripoli landing would put it out here somewhere..." She tapped on a part of the map causing a cone-like path to emerge on the picture showing a possible route.
"The WALL?!" Dante asked as he jumped in his seat.
Janice stood back. "Well, we can rule out beyond the wall – we would have heard about that," she said. "But anywhere within this area could be the correct planting site, and that includes the wall itself."
Ptolemy sat back. "We just had a saint freed... are you saying we just had another one put back?"
Janice sat down and looked back at the image. "It is a possibility."
It seems an eternity I've been here, floating in my broth. I wonder when this soup will be done?
OH! That pain again! The last day or so I've had an immense pain in my ears, and the water seems to push against me with a thud. Why? I would like to know, but I'm still so tired... so... tired... OH! OW! OWWW!
The pressure! The pressure is incredible! My ears feel like they're going to burst! OW! What is happening to me?!
A crack? I hear something snapping. I hear water flowing. UH! The wall in front of me just vanished! I'm being pushed out! OW!
It's dark... My head hurts... I've landed in more water, but this tastes bad... stale and dank. Something hard brushes up against my hand – a rock? Stone maybe... it seems square... I don't know... I just want... I just want to sleep... Oh god, let me sleep...
Uh... UHH! AHHHHHAHHHHAHHHH!
Oh GOD! The PAIN! THE PAIN! SOMETHING IS SLICING THROUGH MY SPINE! SOMETHING...
"YAAAAAAAAAH!"
It was distant, but it rattled through her as if it had been screamed into her ear at point-blank range. Rakka had just returned to her duty in the tunnels. It had taken the few weeks since the release of Bakuu to make sure the tunnel under the wall was safe again. It had been odd to see the now vacant plaque where the saint had launched from. She had been surprised at the lack of any hole or stones dislodged by the flight.
But now, that shriek of pain that had wafted up from the south... she knew what it meant. She remembered screaming in such a manner herself once before, and she had heard it twice in the last week and a half by the twins... when their wings came forth.
But why was it down there with her?
"And why only one scream?" she asked herself. "Why not two? Wasn't that just a memory?"
Her own wings twitched at the thought of her own feathered emergence. The heavy robes snuggled them up against her back, but they still jumped at the memory.
There was something different about this one though. She quickly finished her work on the tag she had been collecting light leaves from and boarded her skiff. She paddled hard.
She remembered the old map that stretched across a wall in the library of Glie. The walled area was almost circular, with a few deviations that caused it to jut back and forth from time to time, and the southern section that stuck out, giving the region a chin. But otherwise, the area that Glie was in was roughly just over ten miles wide and another ten high.
"Hummm... that means that 3:1 ratio... there's about thirty miles of tunnels down here," Rakka told herself.
She stopped rowing for a moment. "Now why did I just remember that?" she pondered.
A twinge from her feathers got her moving again.
I guess I passed out... oh I'm numb with pain that is racking through my bones. I seem to be resting on some steps I think... it's much too dark to tell. I feel something like a small fish nibbling at my fingertips, but I haven't the strength to lift my hands. My shoulders are throbbing. God, what happened to me?
What the... something just splattered in my face! It feels greasy and... oh, it smells bad!
Uh! I'm falling! Oh, yuck! I fell into that water again... that cool water... oh, it feels so good right now... oh, I think I could just float here a while... ahhh...
Ptolemy sat back and looked at the girl. She had just been sent down from the 'Attic' to assist them in finding their lost soul. She called herself Katherine, but this was a case of seeing was believing.
"I remember those eyes, Miss Bakuu," he said. "Didn't they at least give you a slight rest after freeing yourself?"
She cleared her throat and stifled a laugh. "Oh, I had an eternity of rest before taking this assignment," she said. The fact that she could be standing there without her wings or halo showing impressed Ptolemy no end.
"Ah yes," he noted, "if time means little to me, it means even less to someone like you, doesn't it? Katherine is it?"
She cleared her throat again. "Yes, they allowed me to use my human name for this. They thought it would be easier on everyone involved..."
"Yes, quite..." Plato mumbled as he sat back in his chair and looked at his friend in the seat beside him. "Do you wish to enter Glie then?"
She nodded. "The sooner the better, sir," she replied with almost a click of her heels. "From what is showing on the readings, the soul is most likely in peril. If what I think happened DID happen, then speed is imperative."
"And what do you think happened?" Dante asked with skepticism. "You do remember that we are supposed to not take sides in this..."
"Speak for yourself, son," Ptolemy snorted. "I've transgressed enough sins in my day - I don't need to transgress any more."
"Yes, but YOU don't have to explain to them why we let only the 'Attic' in to search for this soul," Dante added. "The 'Basement' will probably want someone representing on this as well."
Plato huffed. "We unfortunately are running out of time on this, though," he stated. "We'll deal with any repercussions afterwards. Right now, I'm willing to take this help as is. Any ideas, Miss Katherine?"
She shook her head as she examined a display that was showing the trajectories of those seedings that had landed. "If these readings are correct, the soul could have implanted in the wall around here," she pointed.
"But we've been all over the wall in that area," Dante griped loudly. "Unless you're saying that this 'soul' replaced you as a saint..."
"No, not that," she said. "You're forgetting one thing..."
"And that is," Plato asked with his hands crossed.
She smirked. "The walls have an outside, AND an inside..."
Rakka had just passed a dog-leg turn in the wall that caused her to change sides as she paddled along. This was the furthest she had ever traveled in the tunnel. The tags in this area were in need of some heavy cleaning – she would have to schedule it...
Her arms were stinging from all the rowing. She had never taken the skiff downstream so far, and even with the current flowing with her, keeping the boat straight took some doing.
"I must be somewhere near the western woods," she said to herself. "Or at least I think I am... I hope I don't get into any trouble..."
She heard what sounded like a cough.
"Hello?" she called out. "Hello? Is anyone out there?" she asked the dark tunnel.
She heard only a few drops of water and a pebble falling into the stream as a reply. She continued to paddle on.
A flash of daylight surprised her. She had not thought there was any other ways into these catacombs. It seemed small – only a crack – it was not a proper entry if it was... she pulled out a small notepad she was keeping with her now while she was down there and noted it.
Then she saw another dock. She looked back upstream. Was the entry back at the Temple not the only way down here? Sure enough, there was another set of stairs up from the landing. She noted that as well then pushed on.
The tags in this area were in terrible shape. She sighed. A lifetime... a NORMAL lifetime could be spent down here working on just these plaques getting them restored. She decided to ask the old Communicator if she could bring help with her if this was going to be her job.
"Thirty miles of tags... no SIXTY! There are two sides to the walls!" she griped to herself. "Rakka, you're only one Haibane! Huh?"
She was now hearing a sound of water rushing. The tunnel made a slightly harder turn towards the left in front of her. She dragged her pole against the bottom of the canal to slow her approach.
"Oh!" she exclaimed when she saw what was making the noise. A small curved arch broke the wall's flat side and allowed water to flow into the canal. The sound was from where the two flows collided. She gingerly moved into it, having never had to move the skiff through rough turbulence before.
She bounded back to the rear of the raft with the pole to steady it as it jumped up and down through the frothy water. The feeder stream was moving fast, and soon she found herself swiftly moving downstream. She remembered Ptolemy once referring to her raft as that "Six Flags" contraption – maybe this was what he meant.
Another crack in the ceiling caught her attention momentarily, though this time there was streamers of vines and other growth hanging down into the cavernous opening, some of which almost touched her head as she zipped by. She told herself she would have to note that as well, but right now was not the time. She was being buffeted about as the water seemed to now be flowing down a hill.
"How would I have heard anyone down here?" she yelped as she dropped down suddenly causing her to fall to one knee. She stumbled back up to her feet again and straightened her hood which had fallen over her head. More tags greeted her as she managed to look around now that the flow of the canal had finally calmed down.
"Where does this water all go?" she pondered as the skiff settled into a glide. She opened her notebook to mark down the growth issue she had discovered.
"Uhh..."
She jumped to the center of the raft and looked around startled, nearly dropping her pen. Where had that sound come from? It was like...
"...like it was in my head..." she said. Ahead was another crack in the ceiling with vines streaming down, but this time, they did touch the water. She noted in her book. She then stepped to the front of the raft and used her punting staff to brush them aside. She entered a section that the ceiling was lower again and the canal was dark and gloomy.
A root cellar door behind the farmer's house rattled. A chicken resting on it squawked and ran off as it swung open with a loud rusty screech. Ptolemy and Katherine stepped up the stairs and looked around at the bright sunny spring day that greeted them.
"That was close," he said as he looked back at the angel as she gasped for air. Her parka that she clung to was torn and shredded along the lower back edge. "I've never seen those gremlins act like that before." He opened his phone and punched up the control center.
"I'm not the normal transient through your portal into here," she coughed. She looked back at the woman following behind her. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Janice nodded. "Just the wind knocked out of me. How did that demon catch your wing? You have them hidden..."
Katherine stepped away from them and removed her parka. The simple dress she had chosen hid her well until she stretched. Her wings and halo sprung forth bright and wide as she regained her strength.
"God in heaven!" they heard. The group looked over next to a silo and saw the farmer with a feed bucket gawking at the angel as she preened herself. "Claude, what is she? I've never seen a Haibane with wings like those!" he stuttered.
Ptolemy stepped over to the farmer to settle him as Katherine folded her wings neatly and retracted them into her back. She put her hand on her halo and seemingly pushed it into her head. It became a golden braid that held her long hair back.
"Feel anything?" Janice asked her as she saw the angel peering south.
Katherine nodded. "Someone is down there... down in the tunnel... unshielded..."
Janice looked at her with concern. "Unshielded?"
"When anyone other than us goes down into the tunnel," Ptolemy noted as he returned to their side, "they need to be in a shielded jacket – a modified type one radiation suit."
Janice looked in the direction the angel was staring. "If you're right, and the seedling planted in the inside of the wall, it'll be cooked!"
"Or worse," Katherine said as she started to walk in the direction she felt she needed to go. Ptolemy and his wife followed her as the farmer watched.
Rakka had been rowing for hours now. Her lamp only gave this section of the canal some illumination, and her halo no longer bounced any light off the roof. The ceiling had risen a bit, so it was less claustrophobic, but the dark mossy walls with the rusty and dirty tags were still all around her. She saw a slight glimmer of light to her left.
"Another landing," she told herself as she moved the raft towards it. It was then she saw what was giving the light there. She gasped and nearly dropped her pole.
The dull fluoresces of the cracked cocoon lit the ceiling and the raft landing in a gray-blue light. She tied the skiff up and stepped onto the stairs up. She slipped on the third step and nearly fell into the water. She looked down and saw a pool of dark greasy fluid she had walked in.
She instantly knew what it was. "Huh! Wing blood!" she gagged at the sight. Her thumb still stung where she had followed Reki's teaching with one of the twins when their feathers had come in. She looked downstream and saw a slick on the surface of the water.
"I've got to get help!" she chirped to herself. She looked around and found stairs that lead upwards, much like those at the dock she used back at the Renmei Temple. She ran up and found a sliding door. Unlike its mate up north though, this one was much harder to move from age and non-use. Once it jerked open, she found the same type of landing and a row of her protective jackets waiting on the other side. She did not wait to remove her own – she ran through the changing room. She needed to find assistance fast.
The outer hatch was heavy and stiff. She pulled it hard twice... a third time... then she kicked it. Finally, in a fit of anger, she grabbed the handle and put her shoulder into the door. She was shocked to find that its frozen wheels easily jumped its hanging track. The sliding door dropped to the ground with a solid thud then slowly fell over with a blast of air that blew her hood off.
The sunlight blinded her briefly. It took her a moment to see just where she was. She had come out of a small adobe hut at the southern most point in Glie. The trees of the Western Woods were to her left and the Southern Farmer's Road was a few yards in front of her, and led away to the right.
"So that's what that little house is," she said to herself as she remembered seeing it when visiting the cocoon that had landed down in the woods earlier. She ran down the path, hoping that someone was on watch duty there.
"EEEK! WHAT IS THAT?!" was the answer to her question as Hikari shrieked at the sight of her stumbling into the woods in her protective coat.
"Hikari, it's me!" Rakka yelled back. "I need help! Quickly!"
Midori looked around the spherical cocoon at the approaching girl. Another Factory girl was beside her.
"Who is that?" she asked her fellow Haibane.
"It's Rakka," Midori said with a bit of surprise in her voice. "She's come up from her work under the wall... but what's she doing down here? She works up at the northwest end of the wall by the Temple..."
"What is all that ruckus about?" another person called out. Rakka looked back and found Kana coming up behind her on her bike.
"Kana, I need help! I found a cocoon down in the tunnel in the wall!" she blurted out.
"Whoa! A cocoon down there?" Kana asked as she looked at the wall. "Is it whole?"
Rakka shook her head. "No – no, it's hatched! The New Feather is in the tunnel somewhere! I found wing blood on the steps leading up from where I tied my boat! Have any of the Community Watch been by?"
Hikari looked up the path. "A pair walked by about an hour ago," she said. "They were heading north through the Farmer's Village."
"Gigi, you're the fastest of us," Midori said to the girl beside her. "See if you can catch up to them. I'm sure Kana will want to help here."
Kana got off the bike and handed it to the Factory girl. She pulled her hair back and snapped a braid on to hold it in place. She then leaped on the old bike and pumped hard, speeding it over the hill in a cloud of pebbles and dust.
"Impressive," Kana remarked. "Now if I could just get that old wreck to work as well for me!" She then cracked her fingers and gritted her teeth.
"The New Feather fell into the drink, ea?" she stated more than asked. "Let's go see!"
"Ah... wait a minute!" Hikari yelped. "What about this cocoon?"
"You stay here and watch over it," Midori said. "Nemu said she'd be down here after work to take over soon anyway."
Hikari looked at the gray-white ball and sighed. "Okay," she said with a bit of trepidation. "Good luck..."
The girls returned to the little hut at the bend in the road. Kana was surprised that Rakka had been able to knock the door down as she had. When they arrived in the small room before entering the wall section, she stopped and pointed at the robes.
"Put these on," she told them.
"What? So we can look as geeky as you?" Kana jibed.
"Kana, that's so mean!" Rakka snapped back as she threw the wardrobe in her face. "Put it on! We can't be down there without them on!"
Midori looked at her set. "If we can't be down there without this on, what about a Haibane who hatches down there?"
Rakka shook her head. "I don't know. The sooner we find him or her, the quicker we can get them out of there... come on!"
After fussing over how to get the robes on, they quickly followed Rakka down the staircase. "You work in this?" Kana asked as she looked at how dark it was.
"It's not so bad up by the Temple," Rakka noted as she carried the lamp to guide them. "I think the New Feather went downstream... Watch that spot on the third step from the bottom..."
"What is that thing?" Midori asked as she watched Rakka climb aboard the raft.
Kana on the other hand was looking above them at the cocoon that was hanging from the ceiling. "Damn! Look at where that thing sprouted from!"
Midori was caught off guard when she looked up to see the Haibane egg – she slipped on the greasy spot, tripped down the last few steps and fell across the skiff making Rakka grab for the chain railing to steady herself. The pole dropped overboard but stayed on the surface.
"Are you okay?" Rakka asked as she helped Midori up.
"Ow!" the Factory girl complained. "Eew... that's gross!"
"I'm sorry," Rakka apologized. "I did warn you about that step..."
She glared at the small girl and clamored to her feet despite her hand for help. "Why must we wear these ridiculous outfits?" she griped. "What exactly are they?"
Rakka knocked the water off the poll as she retrieved it from the canal. "The old Communicator said that no one was to come down here without these robes on – it was to protect us from whatever might be down here."
The girls looked at her for a moment. "Whatever might be down here?" they repeated back to her.
Rakka thought about that for a moment. Neither the Professor nor the Communicator really explained just what this 'whatever' really was. Ptolemy did mention that demons were constantly trying to encroach into the area of the saints.
She gave them an evil glare. "Whatever - as in bad things," she bluntly stated.
"Let'um at me!" Kana barked. "I'll show them who's boss!"
"Oh, they're shaking in their boots now, I'm sure!" Midori kidded her as the three of them pushed off.
"Hey! Are you razzing me girl?" Kana snarled.
"KNOCK IT OFF YOU TWO!" Rakka yelled. "This is a holy place!"
Midori and Kana blinked as they stared at her in the dark glow of the lamp. "Holy place?" they both asked.
"Yes, holy!" Rakka repeated. "See those tags along the walls? Those are saints."
Kana swallowed as the dull aura off the rusty tags managed to show through the built up filth that had accumulated on them. Midori leaned over the edge to look at one as they passed.
"They have writing on them," she said now realizing just where they were, and how important it was to show respect there. "What makes them glow like that? Their locked up powers?"
Rakka rowed gently along and nodded. "Yes, and the light leaves that come off them. It's the same material that makes up our halos."
Now Kana was leaning over the edge. "No! Really?" she exclaimed as she stared at the small fragments of gold flaking off the walls. "Think there's enough to coat the bell in the clock tower?"
"Kana! That's not what it's for!" Rakka snapped. "Just keep your eyes open in the water! There's got to be someone down here!"
Hikari sat nervously tapping her fingers on her knees as she waited for Nemu to arrive or Gigi to get back to her with the Community Watch. Being alone with the cocoon was giving her the creeps.
The sun was getting lower in the west and would soon be behind the wall. That would make it about four in the afternoon. She sighed and rested her head on her knees.
"What was that?" she asked herself as something made a sound behind her. "A bird? I hope that was a bird! Please be a bird!"
The sound came again, but this time, it greeted her with a shower of fluid that arched over and pelted her on the head.
"No! No! NO! Not now! Not now!" she cried as she jumped away from the streams of liquids being ejected out of the cocoon. "Not when I'm all by myself! Noo!"
The cocoon failed to listen to her cries. The side shattered releasing a torrent of material and fluids across the farmer's path.
Hikari found herself a few feet further away than she had started. She looked up and saw a man holding her back from the drenching flow, keeping her from being knocked down by the blast of water.
"M-Mr. Ptolemy!" she called out.
"It is always best to stand at least six feet away from these vessels when you hear the first crack dear," he told her. "Otherwise, they'll launch you across the room... or in this case, across the forest." He looked down on the body that was now on the ground and removed his jacket.
"EEEK! IT'S A BOY!" Hikari screamed. "Why is it that when the Haibane is a girl they come out with a robe, and a boy comes out NAKED?!"
Janice took her husband's jacket and covered the New Feather. "That is a legitimate question," she said. "Any ideas Katherine?"
She shrugged. "This was my first witnessing of such an event… all I can say is that my father works in mysterious ways," was her answer. "Were you the only one watching over this cocoon?" she then asked Hikari.
"Umm, no... no, Rakka took them..." she said nervously to the woman she had never seen before. There was just something about her that made her shake.
"Rakka?" Ptolemy asked. "Isn't she on duty in the tunnel right now?"
Hikari nodded to him. "Yes, but she said she had found a cocoon down there and took Kana and Midori back to find the New Feather... She said it had hatched..."
"She must have ridden the canal all the way down to the southern portal," the scientist noted to himself out loud.
"That's not good for the seedling," Katherine said as she rubbed her chin.
"Yes," Ptolemy agreed. "It looks as if you were right... We'd better get some fever medicine ready."
"We have some up at Old Home... why do we need it?" Hikari asked.
Katherine placed her hand on her shoulder. "The Haibane has been inside the wall without shielding," she said.
"It would be as if you were to touch the wall," Ptolemy finished for her, making Hikari understand further – it was forbidden for a Haibane to touch the wall. She had seen what it had done to Rakka when she had touched it. She saw the expression on Ptolemy's face and knew it would be worse. "It also probably explains why it hatched ahead of this one if it planted itself at the same time..." He opened his cell phone and started to key it up.
He then looked down on Hikari. "The other two girls... did Rakka have more suits with her?"
Hikari looked at him funny. "You mean that strange jacket she was wearing? Not with her, no..."
Ptolemy suddenly had a panicked look on his face and turned to head back up the path. "I hope she had more sense than to take those two down there without protection! Come on!"
Hikari looked back at the boy on the ground. Janice seemed to be intending to stay with him, so she started to follow the others when she heard the bell on Kana's bike ring, and Gigi came flying over the hill. She could see the canes of the Community Watch starting over the rise.
"Stay there, Hikari!" Ptolemy called back. "You two, follow me!" he then barked at the two watchers.
As they approached the small entry hut, they found Nemu looking at the opened door.
"Professor Ptolemy!" she exclaimed. "What's going on? Is there something wrong?"
He planted his hands on his knees and drew in as many hard breaths that he could. "The usual – everything has to happen all at once my dear! I need you to go back up to the farm and see if you can borrow a wagon... your cocoon has hatched and my wife is caring for the New Feather."
"Oh! Yes Professor!" she yelped and started to go.
"Wait! Wait! There's more my dear... hold your feathers!" he gasped for air. "Have him ready a second cart if he has one... Just let him know that I requested it. He should be easy enough to deal with if he gets cranky..."
He then noticed that Nemu was staring at the woman that was with him. It was as if she were transfixed with her.
"Ah, yes... Nemu, Katherine... Katherine, Nemu..." he quickly introduced. "GET GOING!"
"Oh, ah... yes sir!" she blinked and started off.
Ptolemy looked at the angel beside him. "You do have a presence with them, don't you?"
She looked behind her at the two Community Watch members. They seemed unwilling to get any closer than a few yards back, and every time she would look their way, they'd bow their heads.
"Oh gott im himmel!" Ptolemy grunted, which caused Katherine to giggle. He then started to sign for them.
"I want you two to stand by here as we go down and check this out," he gestured with his hands. "We will probably need the travel kit for the canal boat."
The left one nodded and walked behind the small hut and opened another hatch. It exposed a ladder down that lead to a second underground path. Ptolemy rubbed his chin and nodded.
"Ah yes, I forgot that this one has that maintenance shaft to the southern slues gate..." he said aloud. "That's probably where they're going..." He then signed to them "Are there any more suits available down there?"
The watcher nodded yes.
"Good – you need to wear one," he told Katherine much to her surprise. "You might be an angel, but you also have to deal with the same energy problems the Haibane have down there."
"I didn't think you cared!" she kidded him. The look she got back told her that was the wrong crack to say to this old man.
"My dear, I care about you all as if you were all my own children," he snapped at her as he climbed down the hut's second entryway.
My head is throbbing... but I can hear voices... and something else... it sounds like the water is rushing a bit ahead of me...
Someone has been talking to me all this time as well... telling me about freedom... how much fun an independent spirit is... some sort of propaganda... it almost sounded like someone recruiting me... I can't tell... there's too much noise and I'm not sure they're for me anyway...
Oh god I hurt... my head... oh my head... at least whatever was tearing at my shoulders has stopped. But my head still is... ahhhhgh!
NO! I will not listen! I will not LISTEN! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!
"GO AWAY!"
The girls jumped at the yell.
"Take the lantern," Rakka said as she pushed the skiff over to the left. "Shine it ahead!"
Kana leaned out over the edge to better the lamp's light downstream. The tags on the wall seemed to be crumbling here, with little luster to them and even less light leaves to illuminate the area. Something evil seemed to be creeping in from underneath them.
"I feel cold," Midori shivered. "What is it with this area?"
Rakka looked at the walls she was rafting past. "This must be where the protection is at its least... AH!"
Kana looked back at her friend. "Rakka, what is it?"
Rakka nearly dropped the pole as she grabbed her cowl. "Something is in my head!" she yelped. "OW! OW! Help ME!"
"You will leave her alone!" Midori and Kana heard before they could do anything for Rakka. It was the same voice that had called out before. They looked ahead of themselves and saw a body floating in the dark water nearing a grill in the wall.
"It's him!" Rakka said as she stumbled to the front of the raft. She flipped the poll around to get the hook end out over the water. She bumped the walls with it enough to spin them so that the opening in the chain railing was facing the direction they were going.
"Are you okay?" Midori asked as she could see the young Haibane sweating profusely. "You don't look very well," she added as she assisted her with the poll.
"I'm fine," Rakka said as she gently placed the hook under the boy's arm and pulled him towards them. Kana reached over the edge and grabbed his other arm and pulled with all she could.
"Hold him Kana," Rakka said as she removed the poll and joined her with Midori to haul him aboard.
"Oh man, look at his wings!" Kana said as she sat back exhausted. "It looks like the fish were nibbling at them!"
"The wing blood probably attracted them," Midori said as she sat back as well and examined the boy's feathers. "Look, he's caught one," she added as she removed a small fish that was fervently attached to his right wing. She tossed it overboard.
Kana laughed. "Ha! We'll have to call him the Fisherman then!" she giggled. She then saw that Rakka was looking at the grill the water was running through. "Hey, Rakka? You okay?"
Rakka sat staring, no longer sweating hard, but still taking deep breaths. "Can you see it?" she asked.
Midori cocked her head. "What? See what?"
Rakka touched the moss covered iron bars of the slues gate with her gloved hand. "Daylight," she said.
Kana sat up and looked harder. "Oh yea," she said. "At least the sun hasn't gone down yet... I'd hate to get him out of here in the dark."
"No, you don't get it..." Rakka said as she looked down on the boy then back at the wall.
"You're being stranger than normal, Rakka," Midori said with a smirk. "What don't we get?"
She looked down the tunnel the water was flowing in. "This is a way out," she said.
Kana looked closer, as did Midori. "A way what?" they both asked.
"Don't you see?" she pointed out. "That's daylight from beyond the wall... outside. The water enters these tunnels up north and midway and exits here... and goes out... just like the birds..."
They sat and watched the flow of water. Sounds wafted back up the drain tunnel towards them from beyond. Something screeched. Something else made a loud blaring sound, though muffled by the water's flow. There were a series of pops. There was the noise of things being moved against the ground. There was a rumble of machinery.
Then there was silence.
"That is one strange tunnel," Kana noted. She watched Rakka lean over to the boy and place her hand on his forehead to move his blond hair back. There was a bruise there.
"Must be where he hit his head on the stone," she said quietly.
Midori sighed. "So, how are we going to get him out of here?" she asked. "Or are you going to row us back to that landing against that flow of water?"
Rakka looked at the slues again. There were four grilled openings, and the raft was being pressed against the first one quite well. The water was coming from both the western side and the eastern side, and was converging around them.
"First... we must agree to never tell anyone about these... exits in the wall..." Rakka said as she stood up and took her poll in hand.
"What?" Kana barked. "Not tell anyone? Why?"
Midori nodded. "I understand... you don't want another Reki, right?"
Rakka sighed in agreement. "It's for the best. I understand why some would want to fly over the walls, but if they knew there was a way under it..."
Kana finally got her meaning and sighed as well. "You've got a point... least the temptation..."
"Right," Rakka agreed. "Besides, this area seems the least protected by the wall's energy." She reached out with the hooked end of the poll to snag some stones as she started to drag them away from the slues.
Kana and Midori stood up as well, though Kana kept looking down on their rescued Haibane.
"You know, we should have brought another coat for him," she said. "Why is it that boys get plopped out buckers?"
No one had a chance to answer as Kana suddenly had a suit tossed into her face. She dragged the clothing off her head. "Hey! It's you!" she harped.
"Yes, it's me and always will be me," Ptolemy said from a service hatch across from the slues. "Toss me the rope. You're never going to make it back to the landing."
"Where is the New Feather?" they then heard as another head appeared in the hatch's opening. A woman in the same robes they wore was watching them as Ptolemy dragged them in closer to be tied up. "Oooh, this place is cold!" she then grunted.
"Bakuu!" Rakka cheerfully called out. Kana looked at her then the woman and grimaced.
"The saint that nearly sliced you in two?!" she yelped as she took a few steps towards the rear of the raft.
"Angel now," she said as she climbed aboard the skiff. "You can call me Katherine." She bent down and prayed over the boy. "He's a strong one," she said.
"He saved me," Rakka blurted out causing the girls to look at her oddly. She lowered her head. "Something evil was trying to get into my mind, but he told them to go away."
"Really?" Katherine asked her. She turned and looked up at Ptolemy as she gestured to her gloved hand.
"You're protected... go ahead," he said.
She removed the gauntlet and placed her hand on the boy's forehead next to the bruise. "Indeed, he did just that... fascinating... he is quite strong. It is quite fortunate that he fell into the holy waters. They might not be as strong down here, but they protected him nonetheless."
"Good," Ptolemy said as he opened his phone. When he pressed the button on its side, the chirp it made reverberated throughout the catacombs loudly, making the girls wince. "Ptolemy here – recovery complete... out," was all he said. He slapped it shut and gestured to them to follow him out of the canal.
"But how are we going to lift..." was all Midori got out before Katherine hoisted the boy over her shoulder and climbed off the boat.
"I think we're going to follow that lady!" Kana grinned as she scurried after her.
At the surface it took Ptolemy a few moments to get the Community Watch members to help lift the boy off Katherine's shoulders at the ladder as they still did not want to approach her. Nemu had arrived with two carts and the farmer in tow.
"FEW!" the farmer snorted as he waved his hand over his face. "Have you been fishing?"
"Yea!" Kana sharply shot back. "And we caught a LIVE one!"
"Want us to hang him from a tree limb so you can have a picture taken with your catch?" Ptolemy kidded her. He stood back and watched as Katherine removed her robes and handed them to him so she could examine the boy closer.
"You two give your robes to the Community Watch," he told Kana and Midori. "Rakka, give yours to the watch member who comes here to take your raft back north."
Rakka looked perplexed for a moment as she removed her over-garments. "Okay," she said with a bit of puzzlement.
"Busy day, hasn't it been?" Nemu asked as she tapped her on the shoulder. "Now we have to set up two rooms..."
"Two rooms?" Kana yelped. "The cocoon?!"
"Burst just after you left," Nemu smiled. "Now we have two new boys to deal with."
"Well, we'll see just where this boy goes after he recovers," Ptolemy said. "I think we'll have to take him to the hospital first and have him checked out, after Kat here does her thing that is..."
The angel glanced at him at the reference to Kat and smiled.
"I suggest that everyone stand back," she informed them. "I must purge any of the influences that are ravaging inside him."
The girls were shocked to see the Community Watchers suddenly take another few steps back then fall to their knees and bow at her. But that was nothing next to the blast of wind that struck them.
Katherine had her hands on the boy's head and chest as her wings flew out of her back and pointed to the sky. Her halo released her hair and took its proper place overtop her.
She closed her eyes and crossed her hands over her chest. She drew a deep breath and returned them to the boy. She then fed whatever energy out of him that was contaminating his soul and shot it skywards.
Ptolemy stepped up to her and raised a small cup and inserted it into the stream much to the displeasure of the Community Watchers, one of which grabbed his staff and nearly stood up to smack the man for such blasphemy. The badge that Ptolemy showed him put him back on his knees. The scientist pulled the glowing substance from the stream and capped the container. He then inserted it in a device and shook it hard as Katherine watched.
It turned from a bright yellow to a blue. He nodded and she released the boy.
"Wow," chorused Kana and Midori.
Ptolemy looked at them. "You never saw this, got that?" he said as he placed the container in his pocket and pointed at Kana, then Midori, Nemu, Rakka, and finally the Farmer. "This was a simple rescue. There was no angel here, got that?"
"Heh, we're just full of secrets today, aren't we?" Midori said then covered her mouth as she looked over at Rakka.
Ptolemy looked back at the still opened doorway down to the waterway and sighed. "Yes, the slues gates lead out," he said much to their surprise. "But you wouldn't like where they lead, and I would hardly suggest it ever. But you were wise if you agreed to keep it a secret."
"You knew we heard the sounds?" Rakka asked him.
He gave a slight laugh. "Those hatchways act like amplifiers... I probably heard it better than you did. It's one of the reasons why the Scar's Village is so far to the northwest, and nowhere near either of the slews gates. There is less enticement up there than there would be down here."
Rakka shook her head. "I'm sorry... I was thinking more of the Haibane and the people who live here... like Reki..."
Ptolemy placed his hand on her shoulder and leaned down. "If you had not saved Reki, she would have become a Scar... they are more at risk than those around you."
Rakka held her breath at the thought. She then saw Katherine slumping to the ground and rushed to her side.
"I'm sorry," the angel said. "That was more than I expected. I'll be all right in a moment..."
"You said you were taking him to the hospital," Kana stated. "I thought the hospital was off-limits to the Haibane."
The professor snapped a glare at her. "Bull... who told you that?" Ptolemy asked.
"The head doctor there," Midori said agreeing with Kana's complaint. "We had one of our guys hurt once that needed stitches. He only took us after the old Communicator told him to do so."
The phone quickly came out. "Hypocrites please," Ptolemy asked it. "Hipp? Claude... Hey, we're going to need your help at the Glie Hospital... how soon can you be in here? Ah, good... and when you get here, would you kindly remind the head surgeon just who he works for? Great... See you then." He slapped the phone shut and smirked.
"It sometimes pays to know the guy whose oath the doctor's sworn to uphold," he grinned.
That night was another rush of work over new Haibane and halo making for Hikari and the halo-mold. The town seemed in an uproar when Ptolemy brought the New Feather in for help at the hospital. But most of all, the upsurge in Haibane in general was the talk of the town. Some of the words used even shocked Rakka. But for some reason it did not surprise her – the town and surrounding land had been put through much lately.
Hipp had come through a special gate in the hospital itself, which only made some of the grumbling worse. Now he was in charge of the care of the new lad who had survived in the caverns below the wall for nearly two days after hatching. He had also reprimanded the chief surgeon as Ptolemy had asked and reminded him of his duties to the community.
"Is it me, or has the town suddenly become less friendly today?" Kana asked. Rakka could only nod in reply. When they left the hospital there was a large gathering in the town's square.
"What are you doing here at this time of night, Haibane?" someone in the crowd yelled.
Kana stared at the location the cry came from. "What?!" she shouted.
"Yea," another voice yelled, "why aren't you cooped up in your run down old school? Most of you aren't being very helpful around here these days!"
"HOW DARE YOU!" a woman's voice shouted from the opposite side of the square. Nemu recognized it at once as being that of Sumika the librarian. "You seem to forget just why they are here... why WE are here!"
"Sumikaaaa..." Nemu gritted her teeth as she stepped in her direction. Something red flew through the air at the librarian splattering across the ground near her feet. It had been a tomato.
"HOW CAN I FORGET THAT?!" the man who had shouted first yelled back. "You're just a Halo Lover anyway!"
"What is your problem?!" Kana shouted, now livid with rage and being held back by Rakka and Nemu. "What have we ever done to you?!"
"This is OUR hospital, not yours you winged freak!" the man screamed. "We don't get much here, but at least THAT was ours! Now one of your kind has been admitted?! NO WAY! THAT IS OUR HOSPITAL!" He tossed another tomato which missed them, but from the crowd's reaction, had caught someone.
"Since when, Mr. Lawrence?" Ptolemy asked as he started to wipe the tomato off his chest. "The Corporation did not set up this hospital just for the humans here in Glie. So where did you get the idea that it was just for you?"
Rakka looked up at the old man in awe. He did not show any anger, and his voice was calm and collected, even though he had just been pelted by a tomato. And he knew the man by name... how could he?
"Care to answer me that Mr. Lawrence?" he finished as he cleaned the splatter from his glasses.
The man stepped back, speechless at the man he had just hit with the tomato, and the fact that he was talking right to him in return.
"Well, I can answer that for you," Ptolemy continued, almost coldly now, which shook Rakka to the core. "We did not set this hospital up for just the humans – there has always been a Haibane specialist on call here, and there will always be one. And as for this sudden upsurge of bigotry, that can not, and WILL NOT be tolerated here in Glie." He nodded. Rakka turned and looked in the direction he was glaring and gasped.
The man had two of the Community Watch on either side of him who scooped up both of his arms and whisked him away.
"Does anyone else have an issue to discuss?" he then added. The crowd stepped back and quickly began to disperse, not anxious to further enrage The Corporation's representative on the matter.
"Is he going up to the Scar Village?" Rakka asked quietly.
Ptolemy patted her on the shoulder and shook his head. "No, he's off to see my 'brother' who will give him a reminder on good habits here in Glie." He smiled and shook both Rakka and Kana. "I wanted to thank you two, and Midori as well, but she seems to have headed home already... what you three did was superb. Well done saving our lost New Feather."
"Will he be okay?" Rakka asked.
"Oh yes," Ptolemy replied. "He suffered a concussion, probably from the fall from the cocoon... and a concussion is still a concussion, be you human or Haibane... he needed to be brought to the hospital. He should be fine in the next few days. No halo until then though, so tell Hikari to hold off a bit on his."
"We still haven't figured out a name for him either," Kana noted.
"Oh, he's got one..." Ptolemy laughed. "His cocoon dream was flowing through water, so we named him Koi – for the fish."
"We can always put a hook in him and call him the catch of the day!" Kana laughed.
Ptolemy shook his head. "Best you all should be getting back to Old Home. I've got to collect my wife and our friend from the attic and head home as well now that this ruckus is over with."
"I hope this is over with," Rakka said as she watched the milling crowd. "Why would a simple event like this turn the town folk against us like that?"
Ptolemy looked at the crowd. "You may as well ask why we breathe," he told her as he rubbed her head. He looked towards where Nemu was helping her friend clean tomato splatter off her shoes. "Unfortunately, humanity still has within itself a streak of irrational thinking that defies logic or reason. But then again, so does all life for that matter. Keep in mind that the humans here have given up so much to care for the Haibane that sometimes irrational thoughts will rise."
"They have?" Rakka asked looking around at those nearby.
"They have given up their freedom my dear," he explained. "They may not realize it, since everyone here was born and raised here, but they have. They do gain one advantage by being here in Glie, though... They will never become Haibane."
Rakka and Kana stared at the old man. "What do you mean?" Kana first barked then lowered her voice as Rakka hushed her. "Are you saying that it's true then? That we had lives before we came here? That we were once humans just like them?"
Ptolemy smiled. "Whoever said that you weren't human? You, Kana, have O positive blood... if I were in need of a transfusion I would be able to use it if needed. There are remarkably few things different between your body and mine, save the wings and the cranial energy band."
Kana looked at him with a cockeyed expression. "Cranial what?" she asked.
He reached over and gave her halo a flick of his finger which made it ring.
"It does come in handy for us – each one of you gives off a different frequency, and the halos do make excellent antennae," he said as he turned to re-enter the hospital.
"We are still humans?" Rakka asked him before he opened the door.
Ptolemy looked down at her. "No my dear, you are Haibane. Within you is still a human, with all that brings you – feelings, will, soul, the lot. Outside, you are Haibane – a vessel that contains all that penned up energy waiting to be set free by your day of flight. Your guides to that day are the feathers on your back and the ring over your head. Remember to never loose them."
He then entered the hospital leaving the girls to consider his words.
Case: Haibane Koi, soon to be of Old Home, Glie zone, File 02-572A4B77e
"So, you say that the situation with Mr. Lawrence was only an aberration?" Plato asked at the next board meeting.
Ptolemy shook his head. "No, it is a sign to me that we may need to look at the infrastructure to the zones again. Virgil was correct before – now would be a good time to look into it. If the influx of Apogee Reports is correct, then we should not waste time."
Plato nodded and brought out a large pamphlet which he dropped on the table with a thud. "Virgil gave this to me last week. It's a good read," the chairman said as he pushed it towards his chief scientist.
Rakka sat on the porch outside the visitor's quarters and stared out into the blue sky. A few days before, she had been there as well as she watched the Community Watch carry her deflated boat by in a cart to return it to the northern end of the canal. A message they had left on the note-board had told her that she would have a few days off while repairs were made to it. They had also taken her notes she had left of the holes in the wall she had witnessed during her journey down the waterway and on how the tags further down needed attention soon.
She had been restless in bed these last few days. The sounds that she had heard through the slues gate were playing on her mind, especially the strange honking sound. The night before, she had dreamt about falling from high up and hearing that very sound coming from vehicles as she approached them. She shivered at remembering that dream and stepped back into the room to drink some of her tea.
"Oh, hello," she said as she saw she was not alone.
"Um, hi," the boy said as he stood across the table from her. His bandage on his forehead was making his new halo lean a bit to one side.
"It's... umm... it's good to see you up Koi," Rakka said as she fidgeted with her feet, not sure what to say.
"Heh, yea," Koi said rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess getting beat up on your hatching day isn't normal for the Haibane, ea?"
"I don't know - being dropped ten feet into cold water isn't normal hatching procedures!" Kana butted in as she rushed into the room to grab some scones and a bottle that Nemu had left her. "See ya Rakka! See ya Koi!" She then exited as fast as she had entered. A moment later, the sound of the scooter revving out of the courtyard could be heard.
"Hey!" they then heard. Rakka looked out the window at Kana as she was sitting before the tote-board to turn her tile around. "Don't forget about this note!" she yelled back. "The workmen will be in to start the rebuilding of the north wings this afternoon!"
"Okay!" Rakka called back. "See you tonight!"
"You two seem to do well here," Koi said as they watched Kana roar off. "I hope I can get used to this place as well as you two seem to have."
Rakka laughed. "Oh, it wasn't easy for me at first... but the place does grow on you."
She felt her hand be touched by his and she looked at him startled. She saw him smile and blush.
"I just wanted to thank you for rescuing me," he said. "I'm told that if you three hadn't found me when you did, I would have probably died... or whatever happens to Haibane..." He reached over and gave a kiss to her cheek. He then returned to the table and sat down holding his head.
"Sorry... still a little light headed," he said as he held the bandage.
Rakka sat beside him. "That's okay... I wanted to thank you too."
Koi looked at her from under his hand. "Me? Why me?"
Rakka could not hide her own blushed face as she took his free hand in hers and swallowed. "You told the demons to get out when they were attacking me on the boat. You were very forceful," she said.
Koi closed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't remember any of that," he said. "I remember my cocoon dream - I remember the cocoon breaking open - the next thing I remember was the hospital room and someone wrapping my head."
Rakka smiled. "Tell you what, how would you like a nice cup of tea?" she asked.
"Got any coffee?" he asked. When he peered out from under his hand she was giving him an odd 'no' look. He laughed. "Tea is fine then."
Katherine stood before her senior. "Is that your entire report?" he asked her.
"Sir?" she replied in a half questioning manner. "Is there something I left out?"
He sat back and crossed his hands drumming his fingertips together. "How did it feel returning to the place that you were freed from?" he asked her. "Did you sense any of your fellow saints?"
Katherine shook her head. "I was at the southern most section of the cavern, sir," she reported. "Those tags in that area seemed inundated in leaches and demons. In fact, one attempted to attack one of the Haibane, Rakka I believe she's named."
He leaned forward. "Indeed?" he asked. "How did she avoid the attack?"
Katherine cleared her throat. "She says that she was helped by the boy she was rescuing – he drove the demon out with his mind, but I think it was because he was in direct contact with the holy water..."
"Exactly," her superior said. "He seems to be able to channel the strength of the water. Koi is his Haibane name, correct?"
"Yes sir," she replied. "But I removed the memory of him countering the demon..."
"Then I suggest that you return that memory to him," the man said. "It would seem he might be just what we were looking for. Do you not agree?"
"Sir!" she answered him. She turned and walked out of the room.
She leaned up against a wall outside her superior's office and sighed.
"But will he be able to do any good before his own day of flight?" she pondered. "And if he does, what will the opposition think about that?"
She turned and walked down the white corridor and faded from view.
oOo
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Characters from Haibane Renmei ©2004-2011, 18 Yoshitoshi ABe
©2004-2011, 18 The Golden Halo Project/DMS
Edit & Remastered 1106.10
Edited 1804.25
Reviews For: Haibane Renmei: CORPORATION - Case File prior to setup change on FFN
Alpha Draconis1
2004-09-14
Well done as ever. I hope to see more of your work; especially a continuation to this storyline.
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