AN: Sorry for the even longer wait. The holidays got the best of me. I have had a very rocky end of the year and was having trouble writing with my moods that I tent to be in from the 2 weeks from my last posting.
This chapter was to be a bit different then it is now, along with chapter 8 as it is initially this chapter as well. I ended up writing things I didn't plan to put in and the line up is a bit different that what I originally had planed in my head, but as people say the show must go on. I don't mind how this chapter came out it is just different... I hope you you enjoy it anyway. Chapter 8 is not finished yet, as I have now have a little more to put in since it is a break off from this one. I hope to get that one out soon as well.
Hope all of you have had a good holiday, no matter which one you celebrate and a 'Happy New Year!' to you all.
Also I would like to thank you all for reading my story ^^ the views are nice as well as the reviews, the favs and the follows. I appreciate them all and will continue to ^^
Chapter 7
It has been 2 months since I have came here. I have been doing pretty well considering. Myka has helped keep my head up and Pete helps me enjoy my time being a kid. We all have fun playing games with each other and teasing one another.
On a side note I think Pete has mostly given up on me as dating material, which I must say is a relief, not that I don't like him, but he is most certainly not my type.
In the last few weeks, for some reason, Myka has been a bit distant with me sometimes when we are alone, like she is trying to not over step some line, which I am not sure what that is exactly, but I am hoping I will find out soon. I am not sure how long I can stand seeing her in such a restrained longing. It seems like she is afraid to get closer, like it will lead down a path that we should not go down. That in itself is ridiculous, because anything involving Myka is undeniable pleasure. I can't imagined my life without hers now. We are two magnets that are so similar being gravitated to each other. Maybe that is what is scaring Myka. Maybe she is afraid that these feelings we have for each other is a hindrance to her or me, because I am not really supposed to be close to anyone. Whatever the case, I must find out, and soon, before some other thing happens and we are pulled further apart.
Classes with Caturanga on a one on one basis are most definitely not boring, to say the least. We have played many games or chat, but we always seem to play at least one game of chess a week. I have not won a single game yet. He says that chess is his life's passion. I hope to be at least half as good as he is at strategy someday. I want to make him proud of me.
I feel like Caturanga is my person to go to for questions seeking answers or if I have complaints. He doesn't get mad at me or think I am a pest, he answers honestly and kindly. He helps me keep it together and helps me with my tendency to keep things in. He normally notices if I have been having a bad week or day and we hash it out with words or in game, and sometimes both. He is everything I wished my father was.
Between Pete, Myka and Caturanga, I have managed to keep it together so far and I am hoping to maintain that track recorded.
For today's extra class Caturanga setup a game for Helena to play. He knew that Helena would get frustrated and probably lash out, saying how unfair this game is and that there is no possible way out of the outcome that is given to Helena.
He needs to teach her that life sometimes throws you on a sinking ship with no ways to survive and that it is on you to be creative enough to survive. That is all Helena really has left to learn to strategizing.
The only other things she has to work on is her attitude in approaching situations. She maybe highly intelligent and resourceful, but has a wicked temper when things don't go her way or when threatened. She needs to learn to have a cool head in battle, which she has on her good days, but on her bad ones you better watch out. Caturanga wants her to be as ready as possible for what awaits her. He knows, he has talked with Major Frederic. He knows that Helena is being setup to be the next potential to be the commander of the fleet to beat the Formics. He knew he had to prepare her as much as he could, for as long as he could.
Caturanga knows what type of pressure the girl is feeling for he was a 5 star general not to long ago. He retired because of what they were doing. He could not, would not, do what they asked when they asked him to help. He requested to leave with honorable discharge, but was denied and was ordered to train the new generations to help them achieve greatness, to help them be what they needed, or do his job and command the troops. He has been quite bitter at the International Fleet for many years. He was hopeful when others that were posted here thought much like himself, how wrong all of this was. It was not just him that thought that it was wrong for the children to train learning to not trust anyone, training to destroy their enemy with no remorse and to not care of how their actions effect others futures. These children were learning to become killers without remorse, without a care to anyone else besides the mission, the goal and themselves.
He was happy to know that two others were on his side. They have been waiting a long time to make their move to hopefully stop this madness. They put all their faith in a special girl that is a genius, in the true since of the word, among other geniuses. She was born to lead, to achieve great things, as well as to defy what is not just, what is not right. She would need great help in achieving this, as well as great guidance so she does not get turned around or crumble when she is backed into a corner.
He knows how much Helena will not like him today, but he must teach this lesson most of all, for it was the only way she will survive in this place, as well to survive the end of her use for what the colonel has planed. He can't save her from what is bestowed on her, but he can give her the skills and the mindset to survive and to win in war. He can make her adaptable to anything that is thrown at her. He can also be here for her till she is ready, until she moves on up the ladder where she will be in charge of the fleet.
Caturanga has no idea how the colonel plans to play this, but all he can do is teach Helena all he knows. He has grown fond of her these last few months, and continues to. She has become something like a daughter to him and he wants- needs, to give her a fighting chance to survive in the end. He knows that she too is in good hands with her friends and they will help her growth as much as himself, Major Frederic and Sergeant Nielsen. They all must work together and help Helena as much as they can.
Helena walked into Caturanga's office in a good, excited mood. She was hoping to play another game of chess today. She wanted to try and beat him again. She thought she might try a move or two she thought up this week against him to see how he will counter her. She was hoping to maybe get lucky this time around and win, which she knew was unlikely to happen, but could not resist the urge to try. It was not in her blood to give up on anything, but to continually try to take the obstacle in front of her down. She may try many different thing to attack it or get around it, but giving up and admitting defeat that she could not pass the obstacle was not an option for her, was not in her nature.
H.G. was told that she will be doing a maze game where she will have to figure out how to get out of it by figuring the layout, as well as the challenges and riddles that will be in her way. It was an exercise for ones mind as well as ones cleverness and determination.
She didn't mind the idea at all, she was hoping to impress Caturanga with her skills in these games, she has not, not beaten one before. They were always puzzles of knowledge or of chance. These games were of calculation of cost of your choices, as well of the knowledge and cleverness to figure out a riddle that you have to figure out, or remembering what was shown or remembering what you tried before.
H.G. was going to be playing the 'Mind Game' that Caturanga said he built for Helena, courtesy of Major Frederic. She agreed with Caturanga that Helena needed to learn of failure, as well as try to learn to survive in impossible odds.
Helena only had to start the game on her tablet and it synced up with her mind so that all she would have to do was think about what she wanted to do. For this moment they were playing it off of Caturanga's projector on his desk, because the screen was bigger and he could observe Helena as she played.
This game was designed to evolve with H.G., as well as to create stories with her. It was to created challenges for her to accomplish, as well as be challenging. The game did not always start on the same level, for it was designed to be continuous. There will be different levels as she goes on, but will not be noticed as much as it is setup to feel like an adventure. It's a story that will grow with Helena's mind, so it will be continuous as she beats a challenge. The game was built and designed to monitor her psyche as much as it was a tool for her to use to figure out ways to over come obstacles in different situations.
H.G. made it through almost all of the challenges with ease. She currently is right now facing a fork in the road situation. There are three doors that all look the same and one is said to lead her out of the maze and the other two to her death. She had to pick one and take a chance, so she tried the one in the middle, which lead to her death. She was brought back to life again and was told chose again. She tried the one on the right, and that too, lead to her death. She then tried the one on her left, as it was the only one left that would lead her out of this maze, but as she went through the door she was met with her end again.
Helena didn't understand at first, and when she was brought back she stared a long time at them, trying to figure out the doors. H.G. had a thought, maybe the doors had a pattern. Maybe the door that lead her out of the maze would rotate every time she came back again. She played out all the scenarios, all the choices she could make in picking which door, and they all still lead to her death. No matter how many times she pick a different door. She even picked the same door at least 8 times hoping that that door would get picked.
"Bollocks!" Helena grew frustrated and angry as she kept going. All the lives she picked up in the game dwindled to 3 lives.
She eventually got up from her seat and paced. She looked over to Caturanga as he was observing her, watching her every move. She noticed that he was to calm and collected, like he predicted that she would do this. It was written in his mannerisms that she has come to know, for she has spent time with him in these classes.
"What do you know that I don't?" Helena asked in frustration and curiosity.
Caturanga however, remained silent.
She grew more frustrated and angry and thought out loud, "Is the game fixed? Did you fix the game?"
There was nothing once again from Caturanga.
"You did, didn't you? Why? Why would you do that? What is the point in designing a game I can't win? Is it punishment? Did I do something to piss you off? Is it some lesson that only you can teach me? What?!" Helena grew louder and louder till she was yelling at him trying to get him tell her in her anger and frustration.
Caturanga was silent for a moment waiting for H.G. to calm some, so he may speak and that she would listen, "Yes, exactly. That is it exactly, my dear."
"What? What is 'exactly'?" Helena asked in annoyance as she was not in the mood anymore for riddles.
"It is a lesson only I can teach you."
"Then pray tell, sir, what is this so called 'lesson' that you are trying to teach me?" H.G. asked cheekily.
Caturanga was not bothered by Helena's sharp tongue, as he expected it. "Helena my dear, you will face times in battle where you will be backed into a corner with no way out. It is up to you to find a way or to make one."
H.G. looked at him for a moment trying to understand what he was saying. She was now, a bit more calm, so now she could think more clearly. The only thing she could think as to what he meant was sacrificing. "Do you mean sacrificing? Sacrificing pawns to make a hole in their defenses for you to get out of a corner?"
"Yes and no. As you have learned today in the game with the three doors, that sometimes there are no ways to win. You will have to sacrifice to see that, as you did. Then comes the question, how do you win against something that is unwinable?"
"There is nothing that is not unwinable, sir. There has to be a way to get around the three doors in the game."
"There is."
"And what is it, sir?"
"Well my dear, that you will have to figure out, but I will give you a hint."
"What would that be sir?"
"You must change the rules."
"Change the rules?" Helena asked in disbelief.
"Yes. When the rules do not agree with one, it is sometimes necessary to change them."
"So in other words if I were to dig my own path to get out of the maze, I might leave it, instead of going through the trap doors that always seem to get me killed?"
"Well that would be changing the rules to accommodate yourself, but getting you out of the maze? You will have to find out."
H.G. nodded that she understood and walked calmly back to the desk and continued the game. She did just as she asked Caturanga. She found a way out of the maze.
"See, there are ways in which one can turn the game around, if only you are to look. The rules are only guidelines to help keep order and direction. If you do not agree with them you can always find away around them, as long as you think and look around, there are always alternative to the rules set for you. This is an important lesson to always keep in mind, my dear Helena."
Not long after that the lesson was over and she could go catch up with Myka and Pete. They said that they were going to be in the training facility and that Helena should join when she was done with her class.
Helena made her way to the dormitory to get a change of clothes and then headed directly towards the training facility to train with them, as well as do some scrimmaging with each other.
When she entered the training facility's dojo she could see Myka and Pete wrestling with one another. Myka got the upper hand and swept Pete's leg and they both fell to the ground laughing. They both looked like they were having fun and not sparring for real. They more then likely started focused, until Pete did something goofy and made Myka ease up from her very focused mind.
Helena thought that might be a good thing for Myka to have, because she needed a little more fun in her life, much like herself.
Myka didn't need to be as stressed out as Helena, but she always took everything upon herself and made it so that everything was resting on her shoulders a lot of the time. She was a very up tight person that liked rules and order, she thought they were there for a reason. She would break some if she thought they went against the right thing, but overall she was by the book.
Helena made her way to the side of the room that held the hooks and cubby holes to hang and put her things in. She took off her shoes and put them in one of the cubby holes. Just as she took off her yellow jumpsuit that was over her white shirt and pants that all the cadets wore, she noticed that Pete and Myka noticed her presence in the room and helped each other up, and then walked towards her. She folded up her jumpsuit and put it into the cubby as well. Pete and Myka made it to her as she turned back around to face them. Myka reached her first and Pete at her heels.
"Hello. I see you guys have been making progress in your studies, Pete seems to be easily distracted though. I am starting to wonder if he will ever pay attention."
"Hey! I pay attention and I am not easily distracted." Pete said with defiance.
Myka smiled and laughed at Helena's criticisms of Pete. She couldn't help herself and adding her side comments as well. "She does have a point Pete. We were supposed to be sparring with each other and practicing fighting techniques, but then you decided to not take this seriously and cheat. You tickle me as I had you in a leg lock, which by the way was dangerous, as I could have broken your leg, or at the very least sprained it if I didn't end up letting go." Myka said off handily.
Pete waved off Myka's comments by defending his actions, "Yeah, but you did and my leg is fine. Besides, it is not cheating if it works."
"He does have a point darling, but I would have to side with Myka on the fact that it was underhanded and dangerous." Helena said in all seriousness to Pete.
"Alright, alright. I wont do it again. I can't win with the both of you, it's like having two Myka's." Pete was joking, but it had an edge to it that indicated a little bit of annoyance.
"What does that mean?" both Myka and Helena asked at the same time.
"Nothing, nothing. forget I said it."
"Seriously Pete, what did you mean?" Myka asked in a bit softer tone really wanting to know what he meant.
"Nothing really, just that you both..." He was going to say nag but thought better of it and went with, "care about me...you know... I mean your both so similar it's sometimes scary. There are differences between you two, but you both think alike and seem to know what the other is thinking. You two would make a deadly team together."
Myka was a bit touched by what Pete said but was also a little concerned that Pete might think that he is always the odd man out.
"Oh, umm... thanks Pete. You do know that you are a part of are deadly team too, right? I mean, we need a guy like you with your talents. We may be good as certain things, but you cover what we lack. You are very good as sensing out situations better then the both of us combined, as well as keeping us from not going crazy."
"Yeah I know, I just feel like sometimes you don't need me as much anymore." Pete felt venerable and decided to make a joke at his own expensive. "Plus, you both nag me all the time about things I shouldn't do, or how childish I am being." He laughed a little at the end of his statement.
Helena stepped forward and but her hand gently on Pete's arm so that it would hopefully bring comfort and reassurance. "Pete. Really, you mean a great deal to me. You help me keep my spirits up and keep my mind off of reality for a while. I can be a person with you guys and have fun, not some...bloody...test subject to observe and train." H.G. had trouble finding the right words to express how she felt here, being special to the colonel. "I feel like I can be myself around you guys. I have never had any friends before you guys and was thinking I was never going to when I came here. I was lucky to have met the both of you, because I am sure if I didn't I would have been losing it in here." She pointed to her head. "I would be a robot doing as I was commanded, or losing control of my temper to being poorly treated. You both keep me together, as well as keep me going. You give me the energy to keep going as things get progressively worse, and that is because I know that I will not be alone anymore. I have friends to turn to now."
Pete and Myka were both watching Helena as she confessed all of this. They didn't know what to say or do as she finished.
Helena's hand was still on Pete's arm, while Myka stood right next to the two of them. H.G. watch carefully and waited hoping that she did not reveal to much. She didn't want to sound to clingy or vulnerable, she only said the truth of how she felt in comfort.
After a moment Pete grabbed H.G. and pulled her into a hug.
Myka was a bit surprised, but not fully, as she knew her best friend was quite an emotional person.
Helena was completely not expecting a hug and didn't know what to do for a moment. She eventually decided to embrace him back and pat him a bit on the back. She looked over to Myka to ask silently if she was doing this right. When Myka looked at her she smiled and nodded her head. H.G. smiled back and was happy that she could enjoy the embrace of a friend.
She can't remember ever receiving any hugs as a child from anyone. She was a bit awkward in this one, but was happy to have it, as well as to give one. She has received a hug from Myka before but it felt very different then this one. This one felt more like she was hugging a friend while with Myka it felt like much more, it felt more intimate some how.
When the hug ended, Pete patted her arm and stated that she was a great friend to have, and that she was never going to be alone again. She smiled back and said thank you.
Myka nodded silently at Helena when she looked at her after what Pete said. She too was happy to have met Helena as was also reassuring her that she will be by her side no matter what.
Pete cleared his throat after a moment and asked, "So how was your class today?"
Helena sighed and stated calmly, but a bit depressed, "Not well, exactly." There was a pregnant pause as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath; then exhaled and then opened them, all the while unconsciously raking her hand through her hair.
"Caturanga made a game called the 'Mind Game.' It is a cerebral game that is to challenge me. It is supposed to grow as I do apparently, whatever that means, Caturanga was quite vague regarding that. Anyway, it seemed he fixed the game in the end, as there was no solution and I kind of got frustrated and angry, and then accused him of fixing it. He said noting until I asked the right question, which I think was me asking about if this was a lesson, a lesson he could only teach me."
"What did he say to that?" Pete asked.
"Exactly"
"What? Exactly what?" Pete asked again as he didn't get it.
"That is what I said. I asked for clarification and he told me it was a lesson that he could only teach me."
"Now I am curious to know what that lesson was." Myka said intrigued by Helena's tale. She was a bit disappointed to here Helena lost her temper again, but could understand the need for it in Helena's frustration.
"Oh, darling you will not like it very much at first as you like rules and order, but I think you might like the cleverness of it, and how well it suits me."
"Alright, alright. Stop winding us up, you had us with 'the only lesson he could teach you' thing." Pete said a little excited and irritated and wanting to know this secret lesson the retired 5 star general shared with Helena.
"Change the rules." was all Helena said.
"Change the rules?" Myka asked in clarification.
"Yes. Change the rules."
"That's it. Change the rules. I was hoping for some awesome big bad strategies advise or something. It sounds so...simple." Pete said in disappointment.
"Yes well, it may sound simple, but it is hard to do when you do not have an option in the games rules and you have to think out side of the box. For example, in the game I came across 3 doors and was told to choose one as one would lead me out of the maze I was in. I had tried all of the doors and I died each time. I tried different ideas. I thought that maybe the door always reset itself when I died and would be a different door. It didn't seem like it, as I went through the same door 8 times in a row. That is when I really started to get frustrated and angry, and then Caturanga offering that hint. We had a bit of a discussion about what he was trying to tell me, and eventually I understood. I went back to the game and dug my was out of the maze as the rules would not allow me to use the doors, so I by passed them making my own path out. Caturanga said that 'If the rules do not agree with one, it is sometimes necessary to change them.'"
"Now that sounds cool." Pete said all giddy again. "It's like those old karate movies...you know... when the master teaches them some big lesson using a simple metaphor thing, well normally they do some awesome quick motion gab, or snag, or some awesome shit like that. My point is that they normally are simple too, and cool, like 'wax on and wax off.'" Pete was doing the hand movements that normally went with that quote.
Myka rolled her eyes and chuckled at her friend's antics. She did not watch these things much, as she liked reading and enjoying books, but Pete made her watch some of the movies. They weren't bad, but a lot of them were over dramatized.
Helena on the other hand had no idea what-so-ever as to what Pete was talking about. She didn't ever see any of them, as her father and mother were all about keeping them well educated and teaching them how to fight. She grew up in more military standards then it would appear up against Myka and Pete's childhood. She didn't get to watch movies or read books for pleasure much. Her dad always had on the news, they would not watch anything else really, in her family at least.
"Sorry Pete, but I really don't know what that means. I have never seen those types of movies."
"Really? You both are to much alike." He pointed his thumb at Myka and continued with, "She didn't watch them either, until one day we were talking and it came up. I told her that she had to watch at least one, so we had a movie night at my house once, so that I could educate her in the ways of the martial arts." Pete did some fake karate moves and made a noise that was common in the movies that he watched, "Whaa-chaaa"
Myka and Helena both laughed at his silliness.
"What?" Pete asked wanting to know what was so funny.
"Nothing, it was just..." Myka couldn't figure out the word she wanted to use.
Helena jumped in as stated, "Charming. A little...dorky, I believe is the word, but cute."
Pete looked between Myka and H.G., trying to decide if they were being serious or making fun of him.
Myka noticed that Pete was still not sure if he was being made fun of or not. "Pete we only mean that you were being dorky and childish and that it was funny. We are not making fun of you, just enjoying your charms. You can be funny at times, you know, with your childish behavior."
"Is that a compliment or an insult." Pete asked half joking as Myka calls him childish when they have a disagreement.
"It was a complement Pete." Helena stated.
Pete looked over at Helena then back to Myka as she nodded her head stating that is what she meant.
"Oh, I knew that. I knew you could not resist my awesome charms." Pete said all giddy again. The compliment went to his head like always.
Myka and Helena rolled their eyes and laughed some more at Pete's antics.
They all eventually ended up sparring with each other. Helena showed Pete and Myka a thing or two in kenpo and helped point out their weaknesses and strengths.
Even though Caturanga set me up to fail, I think the class with him went pretty ok. He has taught me something I WILL NEVER FORGET, a lesson in which I tend to perfect and make my stand with. I will use and perfect this idea to do what has never been done and to find my way out of this corner I have found myself in.
As for finding out what is going on with Myka, I intend to find out why she has been a bit distant with me sometimes when we are alone. I need to do it as soon as possible, if a time might like to percent itself soon, I will take it. I can not watch my best friend's, my more then friend, that I am not sure what are relationship is any more, pain anymore. She should not have to shy away from me and be miserable along with me. We should both be able to confide in each other, as we have done before, and work it out for better or worse, as we have been since we have come here.
To Be Continued...