Chapter 6: Untalked of and Unseen
A woman with lightning blue hair wore a dark coat. Sunglasses cloaked her eyes. She stepped out of a long beige jetway. The sign above read:
ANDROSS, KHANIA - FLIGHT 6671
Ishigami stood facing the woman as she advanced towards him, towering a foot above his head.
"Minister Hyyroc, it's good to see you. How was your flight?"
The tall woman was silent as she walked past him.
"Walk with me, Ishigami. I have business to attend. I understand you have something for me." She peered down at him. He struggled to keep up with her long strides.
He withdrew the tiny coil from his pocket and passed it to her. She lifted it to her face then returned it.
"I'm glad that you and Nana are serious about ceasing transport to Ash Cloud. But we require proof of destruction. A heater coil proves nothing."
"When is your next over-flight?"
"We will verify the Valor Crane's destruction the day after tomorrow. Leave the debris on the tarmac. Do not double cross us."
"So we have an agreement? You will allow the inspection of the Sogne borehole?"
"The treaty permits visual surveillance. If that's all you intend, there won't be a problem."
"You know very well what we intend. The I.M.E.A. has authorized us to use any technique necessary after you expelled the magma inspectors-"
She laughed. "The International Magma Energy Association is an antiquated decrepit body. All they do is follow mindless instructions from thirteen hundred years ago. Please Ishigami- I thought you of all people would be able to think for yourself. Think of the possibilities here."
"Rules are there for a reason, Minister. If the Klaxosaurs-"
"Ah yes- the Klaxosaurs! The immortal race of shape-shifting proto-humanoid monsters allegedly hiding in Earth's mantle. Our scientific advisors have dismissed this claim."
He let out a deep sigh and stopped in his tracks. The tall woman continued without him.
"You've been warned." He whispered.
It's no use. The council of three has failed.
Royce stood outside the airport's terminal which faced a train station at the other end of a long suspended walkway.
In the distance he he saw a pink haired girl standing on the top of a tall red crane. But when he looked a second time she was gone. Only a flock of ravens remained on the traction rollers.
A pair of lone footsteps echoed in the distance from a walkway below the tracks.
"Ria?" he called out to her.
A black hooded figure emerged in front of him. A strip of short midnight blue hair dangled over one of her bright green eyes. She wore a long black raincoat over a gray button up shirt.
She looked up at him, "Royce!"
She rushed to hug him around his waist. "Royce I thought I saw someone- she had pink hair, in the construction yard. I saw her. She looked just like-" then she hid her face in his chest and the black hood fell from her head exposing tussled blue hair.
"Ria, you're trembling."
Her viridian eyes seemed to plead with him: "don't go", they said.
She reached behind his head and ran her short delicate fingers through his dark hair. She whispered, "stop talking." Then she kissed him. He closed his eyes for a moment, but there was only darkness.
"Well?" She smiled. "Did you miss me?"
"Of course I missed you."
She stood up on the tips of her toes and then kissed him once again.
Her hair smelled of strawberries and it seemed like even her lips pleaded with him, "don't stop", they said. "just stay."
He felt her cold nose against his cheek, and her warm hands gripped the back of his head.
Diana stared down a dark tunnel. Dim blue light rained down on her from above. She shuddered.
There was something so strange about him. He didn't look familiar but-
Tears fell from her eyes as she thought of the small blue-haired girl hugging the man on the train station's platform. She saw it all. Her blood was boiling. Burn marks in the shape of her veins left traces on her skin. Her eyes seared with pain.
Why can't I have what they have? Every one I've trusted- left me, or used me… Except the boy- and even him- I don't know anymore.
She noticed she was still wearing her transceiver. She ripped it off and shoved it in her bag. Down into the depths.
Chairs and tables stood upturned and strewn around the abandoned subway stop. The small insignia she painted on the glass years ago was still there. The platform where no trains stopped. Where she came to cry. To run away from a world which ran away from her.
Where it almost ended. After I realized there was no one left. That it was all my fault. After what I did-
She took a deep breath.
Damn you Ishigami. I trusted you, and even you used me. I'll show you what I'm capable of. I'll show you why you need me.
She heard footsteps in the distance. A tall woman with sunglasses and light blue hair approached from the other side of a chain link fence.
"I know you're here, Experiment Lambda," came a deep androgynous voice. "You left your transceiver on."
Shit, she thought.
"I just want to talk," said the voice. The woman placed a hand on the fence, linking her fingers through the chain.
Against her better judgment Diana stood and faced her.
"What do you want?"
"Ah, I see you're not in control of your own body yet."
She noticed the burns on her arms and she attempted to pull her sleeve down to cover them.
The woman chuckled, "so self-conscious! My. The stories must be wrong."
"If I wasn't in control, you'd be dead."
"Then I suppose I should be thankful."
"I won't ask again. Tell me what you want or get lost."
"There's the Lambda I remember."
She remembered the voice.
…
The world was orange all around her. She was suspended in a large cylindrical tank. Large tubes bobbed all around her like dead snakes latched on to her. Ripples of hot water rose from her arms in the warm liquid.
A woman with two piercing blue eyes and steel blue hair held a clipboard standing next to Dr. Karmann. The pair observed her squirm in the tank as she struggled to breathe. She could barely hear them through the tank. But she heard their faint voices like echoes from below the surface of a pool. "Lambda seems to have the highest thermogenic response."
"Perhaps my work which they called unethical ten years ago proved prophetic after all."
"Her oxygen saturation is dropping but she's still conscious. She's down to three percent. We could publish this. This could- this is unheard of in human physiology."
"Who says this is still human physiology?"
The tall woman was silent.
"The modifications are extensive. You can see the uranyl-centered phthalocyanines in the micrographs – these blood cells are yellow," he passed a clip board to the woman who gasped at something on the page. "There's zero rejection," Karmann continued, "but the insertion vector is still active."
"You think she's contagious? How is that possible?"
"I don't know. It's possible her immune system is too different from the design parameters. Or it's possible she has an innate response. Who knows what they did to those kids back then…" He retrieved the clipboard from the woman who stood in awe, staring at her like some sort of experiment. "She's showing abnormally high gray matter conversion. Optogenetic response is close to ten percent. We need more test subjects."
She pounded on the glass with her fists and yelled, but only bubbles escaped from her mouth. Little green and white lights appeared in her eyes, drifting lazily around her vision.
The tall woman still holding her clip-board looked at her and said: "Oh Lambda- my sweet. You're going to be the key that unlocks everything."
Then she heard the pained voice of Dr. Karmann, "go retrieve the boy."
NO! She thought. The old man clutched his head in pain.
…
She continued to stare at the tall woman with her hand on the chain-link fence. Hatred again boiled in her veins. "It's you. What did you do to him back then? All those years ago."
She chuckled. "Why don't you come with me, Lambda? This isn't some fairy tale. He has a life of his own. You're- well- If you continue down this path you'll only bring him ruin. What will you do when you see him again? Kiss him? Tell him how much you've thought about him all these years? That he should leave his humanity behind and run away with you? Tell me - do you think you'll be able to convince him?"
Diana clenched her fists, digging her nails again into her palms.
The woman continued, "You don't understand, Lambda, I love you. I'm the only one who truly loves you anymore."
"You witch! You evil-" She thought of her mother- No. I mustn't think of that. I mustn't think of that.
She thought about the barrel of a gun pointed at her father's head. NO! I mustn't think of that! Get out of my head! Get out of my head!
She thought about the once-sweet face of the boy. Then she remembered his ten year old face coated with blood and strange liquid as he swung the steel flashlight at a man's kneecaps. The constrictor-like tubes coating the floor. The fires in the distance. The constant ringing of alarms through the facility.
No. That's not- he did it for me. I wanted him to do it. I made him do it.
"Come with me. Forget all this nonsense about finding your darling, about flying recons, about fairy tales and tracers in an endless night. We need you- to fulfill your destiny. You want to save your darling? Together we can discover the key to stopping those things from returning. We can stop death in its tracks- it's what your father would have wanted."
"You'd be better off not mentioning my father. You'd be better off leaving him out of this. I'm better than him. I'm better than all of you!" She shot the woman one last look. Then she turned away.
"Oh that's right. I forgot you were as stubborn as you are ignorant."
Diana heard the sound of a chain link fence clattering back and forth as the woman released her grip. Then there was only the sound of fading footsteps in the distance. "You know where to find me, Lambda-"
She touched the bird painted on the glass with her bloody self-inflicted hand. A spot of red appeared on its wing where she touched it. Then she dragged her finger, streaking a red-orange contrail in the sky.
It was early in the morning when Royce tore open the heavy steel doors of the control room. Ria followed him inside.
He saw Cho, Victor, Morisato, Kristoff, and two unfamiliar young officers standing in flight suits around a large blue wireframe projection of a city near the coast of a large landmass. Ishigami stood at its center; his face was segmented by blue lines which extended into the air around him like a spider's web. The team of pilots surrounded him, deep in concentration.
"Ria," Ishigami's eyes widened. "Interesting timing you have."
She smiled and rushed over to the tactical display. "Interesting projector-thing you have," she replied.
"What's going on," Royce asked.
"We're changing the mission a bit."
"No more Valor Crane?"
"Just got handed a recon mission from I.M.E.A.," Ishigami explained. "Top priority. Crane test flight will have to wait."
Royce scratched his chin. "So what do you need me for? I'm no recon pilot."
"We need all four birds to fly recon, two pilots per bird. That means we need eight pilots total."
He scanned the room, extending his fingers one by one until he realized the proposition. Even with Ria, they still needed him to fly.
Ishigami continued, "After losing Kono and Myozaki we've been short staffed. Cadet Toji and Cadet Orito are just out of the academy and still in training. But we need all the help we can get. How do you feel about flying a Sunbird, Royce- Ria?"
He wanted to stagger backwards but retained his balance, and instead he found a rolly-chair within reach and plopped himself down on it. "I'm not- I've never flown one of those things before. And I'm not getting optos, if that's what you-"
"You can fly without optos. It'll be more challenging of course, but that's how people used to do it back in the day."
"What about training? Kristoff's never flown one of those either." He pointed at his co-pilot incredulously.
"U.N.F. pilots will pair up with Serilonans. You'll fly with Victor, Cho with Kristoff, Ria with Morisato. If we pull this off, it'll be a story to write home about. A real multi-national mission. One for the history books." He smiled widely and extended his arms around the room seeking approval.
"What about the kids?" He nodded at the two cadets. The taller one wrinkled his nose in annoyance.
"They'll fly Zero Two, the transmitter. The rest of you will pilot the receivers."
"Sorry- transmitters? Receivers? I don't get it."
"I'll explain later," Victor ushered him toward the prep room as they filed out. Royce scanned the room one last time for the mysterious pilot.
What about her? What about the pilot who rescued me?
His mouth became dry. He opened it and closed it before finally mustering the courage to ask,
"Where's Diana?" he stood up and asked hastily. Ishigami turned slowly. The air itself stood still. Ria shot him an angry, penetrating stare. Cho hung his head.
"Diana's gone. She's disobeyed multiple direct orders."
"She saved me yesterday, didn't she? Is that the order she disobeyed? What aren't you telling me?"
Ria gasped, "Saved you?"
"She is no longer a member of the Sunbird Reconnaissance Team." The old man straightened his shoulders and concluded, "you would do well- to forget about her."
"Come on, man. Let's go." Victor tugged on his shoulder. He shrugged him off.
He stormed over to the commander.
"She saved my life, you understand? I want to see her. It's the least-" He stumbled over his words as emotion caught his throat and he growled, "if I fly this shit for you, you let me see her, alright? You owe me. For the Crane."
The old man sighed. "Yes, Lieutenant Verbius, we owe you a great deal. More than you know." He paused briefly and then the he grew a pained expression. "Diana is dangerous. She kills her partners, and I'm not just talking about her co-pilots. Exposing yourself to her is exposing yourself to things that science cannot yet explain. She is the Abyss, Royce. Do you understand?" The old man shook his head disapprovingly. "Fly the recon, Royce. I'll find her. But remember my warning. To stare into the Abyss- is not for the faint of heart."