Chapter Ten: Reach Memories Part II
October 11, 2552 0730 hours
Blade's Bunkhouse
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
Having returned to duty after a brief period of leave, Laura stood near her window as she thought back once again to her brief sojourn to the planet Reach. This time she contemplated the second encounter with Dr. Halsey's Spartans.
April 27, 2523 1130 hours
UNSC Military Complex, Reach
Epsilon Eridani System
She'd been on Reach for almost two weeks, and had gotten more suspicious and jittery with each passing day. After her encounter with those Marines, she kept a concealed steak knife (commandeered from the base commissary) on her at all times: it wouldn't do any good explaining being armed to her mother if she was already dead. Most of the time Laura kept to the shadows, blending in with her surroundings as she'd been trained, and was still being trained. Occasionally, she ventured out into the open, but only when she was sure it was safe. It was on one such occasion that she noticed the rock-wall.
It was over twelve meters high, with safety harnesses and grips everywhere. There were three faces to the wall, each more difficult than the first. She noticed the third one had fewer grips and looked the most difficult. All the safety harnesses had been pulled to the top, since no one was using the wall at that point. Doesn't look too hard, she thought. I'll give it a try, since no one's around to stop me and I have nothing better to do.
In the woods, supposedly on a training mission (but having given their instructors the slip yet again), the young Spartans watched as the mysterious young girl approached the rock-wall, sizing it up as she approached. Kelly shook her head and looked at the others.
"She can't be serious about climbing that, can she?"
"You would know better than the rest of us would, you've seen her in action," John replied.
"Look," Sam whispered, pointing to a figure at the very edge of their field of vision. "Someone's watching her."
"It looks like the Chief," Kelly whispered in amazement.
Chief Petty Officer Mendez watched the young girl beginning to climb the rock-wall, with no safety harness and no visible precautions. She's either very bold, very reckless, or very stupid, he thought. As he watched, Laura gained about a meter's height, and continued climbing. Turning at a noise behind him, Mendez jumped and snapped off a hasty salute as Dr. Halsey and another ONI official approached.
"At ease, Chief Mendez," the ONI officer said crisply. "I see Laura's found the rock-wall to be too easy for her."
"You knew she'd be here?" Dr. Halsey asked.
"I had a feeling. As I recall, there's a note on her climbing ability in her file: she routinely escapes Camp Hayes on Earth by climbing fences, trees, and other things. She's had a lot of experience with heights."
"Speaking of heights…" Mendez muttered as they watched Laura get halfway up the wall.
Laura felt for the grips as she slowly climbed upwards. It was easier than it looked, for her at any rate. Years of climbing trees and fences had taught her how to find impossible grips. As she got higher, she refused to look down, focusing on the harness at the top. Closer, closer, up we go! She climbed even higher, and saw she was about two meters away from the top when she missed a grip. Her hand slipped, and she started to slide down the wall. No! She scrambled to find her footing as she slid to the ground.
Dr. Halsey and Chief Mendez watched as the young girl started to slide down the rock-wall, found a grip, and pin-wheeled her legs for a few seconds before finding a toehold. She pulled herself up and resumed her climb, finally reaching the very top of the wall.
"I don't believe it," Dr. Halsey whispered as the girl gripped the harness in both hands and rappelled down the wall, landing on her feet with no difficulty. "This is the test case, the so-called 'mistake'? She's just as skilled as the others."
"That may be, but she also has a number of psychological flaws, one of which being an unwillingness to hurt her opponents," the ONI officer replied.
"I see." Dr. Halsey watched as the girl turned and looked at them, dark eyes challenging, angry and aware, before she headed off into the woods. "Then leave her on Earth if you wish. I still see no reason to consider her a mistake."
As she landed at the foot of the rock-wall, Laura noticed the three adults standing in the distance. They were watching me the whole time! Recognizing the Marine CPO, she scowled at him and turned her back, heading for the woods. Unconcerned with anything else, she stalked through, angry at the whole farce ONI had concocted.
As she walked through the undergrowth, her sharp ears registered movement around her; she stopped and listened, her back against a tree trunk. A dark-skinned soldier stepped out from the growth, followed by one with sandy hair. A closer look revealed that they were her own age, and that they were both armed. No way in hell, she thought, studying them closely as she guessed what they were planning. No one is catching me today!
As the pair got closer, Laura jumped, grabbed a tree branch, and swung over their heads. Executing a clean flip and landing on her feet, she took off like a shot deeper into the woods. Back home, she routinely ran the base tracks and raced a family friend's horses when she could, the end result giving her unusual speed for a twelve-year-old. She used that now as she fled the Spartans, hoping to shake them off and get back to the bunk she and her mother shared. Pausing a moment to listen, and hearing movement coming her way, she swung into a tree and climbed upwards. Like a squirrel, she swung and jumped from tree to tree, hoping to fool any trackers that way. Finally stopping in a tall oak, she rested and waited.
"Sam, Fhajad, are you sure she went this way?" she heard a voice nearby ask.
"Positive; no way she could have changed course without our seeing. She was clever, though, to climb that tree and try to fool us," the dark boy replied.
"True, but what if she never left the first tree?" the sandy-haired boy asked. "If she's still there, then she could easily double back and give us the slip."
"No, I don't think so," the first boy replied, a kid with buzz-cut brown hair and a stern face. "Look, bark pieces. She's nearby."
"Is she nearby, or has she been here and gone already?" a girl's voice asked. Peering through the leaves, Laura recognized the girl: Kelly, her ally when the Marines had attacked the second time. Not cool, she thought. Guess I'll be stuck here for a while.
"Sam, Kelly, scout around. See if you can find any traces. Fhajad and I will stay put and see if she's still here." The sandy-haired boy and Kelly nodded, then moved off.
"Do you think she's still here, John?" the dark boy asked.
"Probably. There were no other traces pointing anywhere but here, so she has to be close."
Closer than you'd guess, Laura thought as she waited for them to turn their backs. Gripping a low-hanging branch, she swung out, flipped, and landed on her feet, running as swiftly as she could before the two young Spartans could gather their wits. The ground was hard, allowing for her to move quickly enough, but she needed some way to turn the tables and escape. They obviously tracked me here, so I need to find a way to hide my trail. Seeing where the ground began to look broken and rocky, she veered off in that direction, noticing as she turned that pursuit was still close behind. The dark boy, Fhajad, had fallen behind, but the one called John was still close. Kelly was moving past him, getting too close for her liking, and Sam was just in front of Fhajad. They're definitely fast, especially Kelly. If I can't find cover, she'll catch up for sure, and then there'll be trouble. Turning her eyes forwards, Laura saw a dead-end up ahead: the rocky path she'd found ended in a cliff. She stopped short, seeing no way around, unless…there! That narrow ledge was just like the one on the river back home! If she could get to it quickly…There was nothing else for it. She jumped, landing neatly on the ledge, and began to move along it to safety. As Laura skirted the edge of the cliff, she listened to the voices above.
"I don't believe it," Kelly murmured as the girl dropped down to the ledge, moving along it as if it were a standard path. "She's still alive, and she hasn't fallen."
"If a civilian can do it, so can we," Sam muttered when the rest of the group caught up.
"I don't think so, Sam. It's too risky. Besides, we don't know anything about her, so why risk it?" John didn't want to risk losing his best friend.
"I'll be fine," Sam replied as he jumped down. His confident expression turned to fear, however, as he missed his footing. Just before he fell, a hand reached out and gripped his fatigues.
Laura had seen the boy jump after her, and knew he would go down for sure; his timing was off, and he had misgauged the distance. One foot connected with the ledge, the other hit empty space, throwing him off-balance. Reacting quickly, she shot her arm out and grabbed his uniform, yanking him back toward the cliff before he fell to his death.
"What the hell were you thinking? A soldier should have known better than to risk a jump like that without casing it first! You shouldn't have come after me, should've listened to your buddies."
"You didn't seem to have too much problem with the jump," the young Spartan replied, a sour look on his face.
"I grew up around these kinds of things, so I knew what to expect. Now shut up and follow me carefully, unless you want to learn to fly real fast." She carefully picked her way back to the top of the cliff, the boy following her closely. Dreading what she might find at the top, Laura moved her hand near her knife, just in case she needed it.
"Sam!" she heard Kelly call as soon as both of them were up top again.
"Why didn't you listen to me when I said not to go down there?" the brown-haired boy, John, asked, shaking his head.
So far, so good, she thought to herself. They seem to be ignoring me. Maybe now I can get away. She started edging back towards the woods, trying not to make a sound. Unfortunately, a quiet departure was not to be: Sam turned around and spotted her trying to slip away. He also noticed the hand hovering near her hip pocket.
"Where do you think you're going?" he challenged.
"Away from here, and away from you. You kids are more trouble than you're worth, and I'd just as soon go home and have done," she shot back, her words sharper than she'd intended.
"You're calling us kids? You're the same age we are," John yelled.
"Maybe, but at least I know when not to take chances. And at least I know who I can and cannot trust to let well enough alone." Laura was starting to get scared, but kept backing towards the woods, hoping to at least get to the tree line before all hell broke loose.
Just before she was near the trees, a Pelican roared overhead. Laura panicked and bolted, sure that ONI was looking for her, terrified that they'd spotted her. Her knife was out in a flash, and she took to the trees once again. Perched in an ancient pine, she waited as search teams swept past.
"According to the Pelican, she was here a little bit ago. Should we turn on the motion sensors?"
"No good in these woods, idiot. Too many animals, and those freak Section Three kids too." Section Three? That's the ONI branch that trains me!
As soon as the teams were clear, Laura dropped down and began to make her way back to the base. She wanted more than anything to go home; she was scared, lonely, and felt betrayed.
Climbing in through the window that night, Laura found her mother asleep and a small present waiting for her: a pair of combat knives was tucked under her pillow. With them was a note: Just in case. Kelly. In spite of her worries, Laura couldn't help but smile.
October 11, 2552 0800 hours
Blade's Bunkhouse
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
A Pelican roaring overhead on its way to the airfield jolted Laura out of her reverie. She shook her head sadly, wishing once again that she could have gotten to know the girl on Reach. Ah well, wishing solves nothing, she mused as she glanced at her knives. They were old, the sheaths were battered from years of use, but she still kept the knives in good condition. The first gift from a friend I ever received. Thank you, Kelly. If only I could repay you for everything you did for me on Reach. She picked up the knives and strapped them to her waist. It was time for a new day of chaos.