Chapter 3
Jane rushed out her sector and headed straight for Io's office. Io's office was near the top level of the facility overseeing everything that went on. It was her job to make sure that everything and everyone was safe on this vessel. Today she was busy with a bothersome service bot that has caused quite a bit of trouble with the other inhabitants. Xeth was brought on board a few months back as a broken service bot. Many of his previous owners had complaints of faulty wiring resulting in tasks being completed too efficiently, if there ever was a thing. Io had tried her best to make sure that the service bots on board understood their main protocols but Xeth was a bit hard.
Jane came through her door only to see Io stood before Xeth; trying to communicate with him but obviously failing. She was on the verge of tearing the service bot apart until Jane came in. Her robotic arm shinned in the light as she raised it up as if she was about to punch Xeth. Suddenly she felt a warm fuzzy tingly feeling inside.
"Jane! What can I do for you?" Io said with a soft smile. Xeth looked at her and looked back at Jane. He didn't say anything except he took this opportunity to quietly slip out of the room as Io and Jane started talking. He was done playing with Io.
"Io, be honest with me. Have you been going around and talking to the pre-dawn humans?" Jane said with worry in her voice. Io noticed that something had been bothering her.
"Jane, what's wrong?" Io said with concern. Jane started to get flustered.
"Just answer the question please!" Jane said out loudly. There was a mix of fear and anger in her eyes. Her fist was clenching and she looked like she was about to fall apart.
"Jane I haven't left the office since I came in during the early waking hours." Io said.
"Well, how else would the pre-dawn human know that I brush my teeth when I'm bored? The only people here that would know that are my parents and you!" Jane said with a red face. She was embarrassed about that little habit more than anything else and the last thing she ever wanted was anybody else to know. Io was stunned. Io had known about Jane's little habit the first night they were married. But she wouldn't go around telling other people's secrets especially Jane's. Jane on the other hand perfectly knew that but she was grasping at straws now. Io started to get worried. She didn't want anything bad to happen to Jane and seeing her upset like this only made her tensed. After a bit of silence Jane started to tell Io what had happened with the Ellipsis and her session. Io was baffled. She didn't know what to say. Science and time traveling was way above her paygrade. She was the head of security, not part of the science team. Io sat Jane down.
"It's gonna be alright okay Janney? Everything is going to be fine. That pre-dawn human just got lucky with what she said. My guess is that she heard about it from one of the service bots. Things around here have gone a little crazy since Bronsworth passed away and they brought in that giant stupid rock and a few ancient toys." Io said with a smile. She was trying her hardest to cheer Jane up.
"They're called relics." Jane said returning the smile. Jane sat in Io's office for some time while recuperating. It was just about the only place during waking hours where she could relax and feel safe. Io would then make her a cup of tea and let her be. Io went back to her deskwork. It was going to be one of those days. Suddenly a call came through. Io picked it up and listened carefully. Then without haste she got up and headed for the door but not before going over to Jane and making sure she was alright. Jane smile and nodded and then shooed her away.
"You have a job to do." Jane said playfully. Io returned the smile and left. The call that came in was to inform Io of a code alpha blue. Code alpha blue is used when an experiment or a subject has escaped their holding area and left the quarantine zone. As Io chased down the escapee, she was unaware of the activities that were occurring right above her.
Prior to Io getting the call, Ellipsis quietly reflected on her encounter with the Jane from this time period. After a minute of going over their conversation Ellipsis noticed the notes and photos that Jane had dropped on the floor. A sudden wave of fear and anxiety crashed down on top of her as she gazed into one of the photographs. An eerie feeling slowly crept up her spine. It was the Black Mirror. It looked just as she remembered it. It was if the sands of time had only grazed it. Was this the reason how she got back to the Photonic Sphere? The other photo gave her the shivers as well but not as great. It was the stone slab that she stood on. She could read the text plain and clear.
"Farewell to the world of light." Ellipsis read out loud. She suddenly felt cold and the room around her seemed as if the lights had dimmed slightly. A terrifying thought had crossed into her head and she quickly sprang to action. Unaware if someone on the other side was watching or not she grabbed the mattress and dragged it to the center of the room. She had been eyeing the air vent that hung over her the entire time. Though she didn't originally planned on escaping, she always thought of it as an option. As she jumped on the mattress to reach the vents she realized that she was not as agile as she used to be. She got tired quickly and her fingers started to hurt as she wrapped them around the bars of the air vent. But she ignored that and focused on getting out. As she swung back and forth while hanging on the air vent seal broke and she fell to the ground. An enormous rush filled her. Her head felt like there bubbled swimming around. She could feel her heart race as she tossed the seal to the side and jumped once more to the air vent opening. As she climbed in, she soon picked a direction and stared to move and move fast.
The air vents were surprisingly clean. Compare to some of the other air vents that Ellipsis has crawled through in the past this one was surprisingly dust free. It wouldn't be long before she saw a little light float by. It was a tiny servo robot. It had one eye with a tiny long tube underneath it. It was spraying the air vents and as it looked at Ellipsis it gave a small beeping sound and decided to spray her in the face. And just like that it left. Ellipsis pondered for a moment of what just happened and then decided to move on.
Meanwhile Io was at Ellipsis white room examining the area. Io then rushed back to the security control panel to view the monitors. So far nothing showed up as unusual. The man behind the computer screens got nervous.
"Where do you think she could be?" The man asked. He was scared of the pre-dawn escaping but he was more nervous about Io being that close to him. He heard the stories, everyone has. They said that Io lost her arm while fighting a ravenous pack of mutated hyenas and in the end she just shrugged it off and went to the infirmary. Others say it got infected and she decided to cut it off herself with a rusted hack saw. Whatever the reason for her missing arm it didn't detract her from protecting the people on this spacecraft. Io scanned the monitors and soon enough a smile came to her face.
"I know where she's heading." Io said as she whipped around almost knocking the guard behind her over as she raced out the door. She took off like wild animal running down the halls. For Io the solution was never that complicated. Where would someone go if they were locked in a private room for the past few days? Io figured out where Ellipsis would go and there she would confine her. There was reportedly no real biological threat but Io was not sure how dangerous this person could be to the rest of the men and woman aboard the ship.
From past experiences Ellipsis learned how to navigate her way through air ducts. As a thief, learning how to maneuver oneself through a building going undetected was a special talent. Unfortunately for Ellipsis that talent ran dry. She didn't have the advantage of walking up walls like how she did when she was a vampire. She had to climb her way. She wasn't as stealthy either, her breathing made the most noise. The design was usually something simple, never complicated. Luckily for her she figured out where to go. In the darkest parts of the air vents Ellipsis had wished she could see in the dark like she used to. But regardless of the drawbacks of being human again she pressed onward. She was determined to know if the pictures she found were true.
At one point she decided to drop down from the vents and get a good look around. She carefully opened the opening of the air vent and peeked down. It was a storage closet. She knew if she were to drop down now she would have a hard time getting back up. She jumped down anyway. On top of trying to get answers as to whether or not the Black Mirror is on the ship she was also curious about the area as well. If Jane is here could Io be here too? What about Samantha? Ellipsis didn't know but she was curious to find out. The room she dropped down to had selves of what looked like canned goods all stacked upon one another. Ellipsis curiously took one of the cans. It had no label or a recognizable design just a weird symbol that looked like a drunken letter T. She decided on impulse to crack it open. It took some strength but when she finally got it open, red liquid sprayed everywhere. She backed up for a moment. In that split second she thought it was blood. But it wasn't blood, it lacked the smell. She took a tiny taste. It was tomato paste.
Ellipsis quickly realized that she was in a pantry of some kind. After consuming the red paste she carefully opened the door to the outside. It was a kitchen and an empty one at that. There were more drawers and cabinets to explore. Out of everything in the place Ellipsis was focused on one thing and one thing only, alcohol.
Then off in the distance she heard glass clinking on the floor. She quietly followed the sound and soon enough she found an empty bottle. Then she found more empty bottles, they carried a strong and familiar smell to them. Ellipsis licked the top of the bottle, hoping to get that last drop of beer. Upon further investigation she found Ridley passed out on the floor. Standing next to him was a weird looking robot. It had no discernable features but Ellipsis got the feeling it was staring right at her. The robot looked at her and began talking.
"Hello my name is Xeth. What can I do for you today pre-dawn human?" Xeth said in a monotone voice. A flash of a cute smiley face appeared in a soft blue light on its face. Ellipsis breathed a sigh of relief. The robot knew she was a pre-dawn but didn't question what she was doing here. It was another one of those help robots and clearly Ridley had plenty of help.
"Calculating; sorry no…available. Anything else I can help you with?" Xeth said immediately. Ellipsis blinked a few times. She slowly became concern. She didn't say anything and yet the help bot assumed she did. Ellipsis looked at Ridley.
"What happened to my friend?" Ellipsis said as she pointed at Ridley. Xeth slowly panned its head to look at Ridley and then panned back to Ellipsis.
"Your friend said he wanted 'alcohol' so I aided him in his search as I am programmed to do." Xeth said. Ellipsis looked at Ridley and gave a small laugh.
"Yeah that sounds like him." Ellipsis said with a smile, a bit of relief past over her. This was all Ridley's doing.
"How is that?" Xeth questioned. Ellipsis looked back.
"Because he likes alcohol…" Ellipsis said. This was getting slightly annoying.
"But why does he like alcohol." Xeth said. Again Ellipsis blinked a few times. The warm fuzzy feeling of frustration slowly began to rise on the back of her neck and flow down to her knuckles.
"On average what is your friend's normal consumption rate give or take an alcohol substance between 50 to 100 percent? And on top of that what is his body weight?" Xeth asked. A question mark symbol appeared on its face. Ellipsis was on the verge of pulling out her hair. She clenched her first in frustration. It seemed like a never ending line of questions all nonsense and what not.
"I don't know!" Ellipsis said in a harsh tone. Tensions were starting to boil over. She was starting to see why Ridley drank himself to sleep.
"If you do not know then why do you consider him your friend? Shouldn't you know this if he was truly your friend?" Xeth said. Ellipsis at that point had lost it. She reached for one of the empty bottles on the floor and was about to throw it at Xeth when suddenly something caught her arm. She didn't see it but it felt hard and cold. She looked back only to be greeted with a familiar scowling face.
"Io…?" Ellipsis said in a curious tone. Io held a strong grip on Ellipsis's wrist. Ellipsis dropped the bottle. Io quickly than shifted her eyes towards Xeth and then Ridley. Ellipsis looked up at and down at Io's uniform.
"You're a dick?" Ellipsis said. This got Io angry as she then tossed Ellipsis out the doors behind her. Ellipsis flew through the double doors and fell flat on the ground. Io approached her from behind. Ellipsis quickly rolled and stood up. She appeared to have landed in a lobby of some kind. There was white all around her and it looked extremely clean. There were a few random onlookers who watched as Io approached Ellipsis.
"You're a slippery fish aren't ya?" Io said as she stood before Ellipsis. Ellipsis knew that look on Io's face. She was ready for a fight. Io charged at Ellipsis throwing a punch with her metal arm. Ellipsis dodged and moved out of the way. Io kept moving for a bit then stopped and spun around. Ellipsis kept close attention to Io's stance. In all the fights she seen with her, she normally goes all out in the beginning for a quick win. Io came at Ellipsis again but this time instead of throwing a punch she raised her leg and kicked Ellipsis in her face.
This took Ellipsis by surprise as she was struck in the face and knocked to the side. Ellipsis suddenly understood that much like Ridley and Jane, this Io was slightly different. She could not rely on old information if she was going to take Io on in a one on one fight. However, there were some similarities between the Jane and Ridley she knew and the new Ridley and Jane. Ellipsis tried to figure out what was similar with Io as Io charged at her again. This time Io threw two punches at Ellipsis. Ellipsis moved back and dodged them both. Though she has been out of practice she still remembers some of the skills she had learned while working as an assassin. As Io came at her once more Ellipsis ducked under her and struck her in her stomach. Io let out a lung full of air as she bent over in pain. Ellipsis moved out of the way as Io recovered from that hit and stood back up.
"Alright, it's been awhile since I've had a good fight! Come on small fry." Io said with a smile on her face. It was that smile that made Ellipsis feel relaxed. She saw some similarities in this Io and that gave her a sense of relief. That is until Io came back at her throwing another single punch from her metal arm. Ellipsis suddenly got an idea as Io came at her. She was going to test something on Io. As Io lunged forward with her punch, Ellipsis quickly stepped in close, sidestepping her punch and got real close to her face. Before Io knew what happened, Ellipsis embraced Io with a long kiss.
Io suddenly skidded to a halt and spun around to face Ellipsis. She stood there in complete shock. Ellipsis took a step back to watch her handy work. It was successful. Io looked as if someone had completely shut down her system. Io didn't move nor did she blink. She just stood there in absolute shock. She was no longer in a fighting stance. She just stood there.
"Uh, Io; are you okay in there?" Ellipsis said with a concern tone. She remembered Io shutting herself down when that werewolf tried to flirt with her. Apparently this was another similarity and it made Ellipsis feel more at home. Perhaps this was not such a strange world after all. Io then slump to the floor; she just sat there staring off in the distance. Ellipsis got really concerned at this point. She didn't think a kiss would have that much of an effect on Io.
"Io…Are you alright in that head of yours?" Ellipsis said as she slowly approached Io who was still at this point sitting on the floor gawking into space. Ellipsis no longer felt a sense of threat. After all this was Io. As Ellipsis stood beside Io, waving her hand in her face, she suddenly heard a humming noise. Before she found the source of the humming the source found her as she was struck under her chin by Io's metal arm. A sudden feeling of electricity raced through her body as she spun around and collapse to the floor. She could not move her body, all sensation was lost. As Ellipsis stared at the ceiling she saw Io approached her.
Io had a looked of disappointment written on her face. She didn't say a word as she grabbed Ellipsis and tossed her over her shoulder. Ellipsis was caught completely off guard. Guess there were an equal amount of similarities and differences in this new world. As Io carried Ellipsis through the space ship, Ellipsis caught a glimpse of something shinning. As she looked over she saw something that gave her chills down her spine. It was through a large window that she saw the stars of the universe staring back at her. She had never seen space before. She was completely thunderstruck. It was amazing. She then caught what was shining in the first place. It was a large piece of metal gently floating across.
"Wow…" Ellipsis muttered out of her mouth as a trail of drool descended upon Io's shoulder. Io didn't react to Ellipsis word or the drool but took notice of her reaction to seeing space garbage floating by the ship.
As Io brought Ellipsis back to her room, now with the vent properly sealed, She placed Ellipsis back on her bed. Before she could turn around and leave Ellipsis suddenly jerked her arm up at Io. Io quickly blocked Ellipsis arm.
"Still got a bit of a fight in ya? I like you kid." Io said with a smile. Ellipsis moved her arm more slowly this time. It was just about the only thing she could move other than her eyes and mouth.
"Io…" Ellipsis spoke out. Her face seemed half numb as her words slurred a bit. Io paused for a moment. It was not long before she noticed that Ellipsis was pointing towards the pictures on the ground.
"It's…dangerous…" Ellipsis said before more drool dripped down the side of her mouth. Io looked at the pictures on the ground and soon felt highly disturbed. Io looked back at Ellipsis who by this point had finally fallen asleep. The pictures themselves gave Io the shivers. Something was not right. Io took the pictures and left. There was more work that needed to be done today.
When working in the same environment as your spouse can be a bit hard sometimes. There are very good reasons why this is not allowed officially. Jane and Io have always kept a line between them when it comes to their careers. Sometimes thing would get a little too carried away and too stressful for either one; at that moment the line would blur. Emotions have been known in the past to run a bit high but eventually everything settles down and no one is the wiser.
In the amount of time it took for Io to chase down Ellipsis and Ridley, Jane had gotten herself situated and was soon back in her office filling out reports on the pre-dawn humans. Though she had received a bit of a shock earlier she wasn't going to let that get the best of her now. As soon as the door opened up and Io walked in the room the line between them manifested.
"Hello officer, what can I do for you?" Jane said in a very monotone voice. The lack of emotion was apparent. Jane didn't bother to keep her head up and was soon quickly filling out her paperwork.
"Doctor Parker, I just have some questions for you about these." Io said as she presented Jane with the pictures.
"These were found on the floor of one of the pre-dawn human's room. She seemed quite disturbed about them. What can you tell me about them?" Io said as she sat down and laid the pictures on Jane's desk. Jane stopped her writing for a moment, looked up with a glare and pushed everything aside to get a better view of the pictures. After a moment of looking she slightly adjusted her glasses.
"Ah yes. These are the relics that were excavated on the Earth." Jane said as she placed the pictures down.
"Anything else you can tell me about them?" Io said with concern.
"Well, the relics were excavated a few days ago and since then the recent Dr. Bronsworth had been experimenting on them. There seemed to be a reverbing frequency that is unknown to us. Bronsworth was conducting experiments with these relics and in his findings before his passing; he discovered that the stone and the mirror's frequency increased dramatically when the two were in close proximity to one another. On the day of his passing he placed the two relics together under a machine that was synch the frequency and mimic them." Jane said as she paused for a moment. She reached for her glasses and started to clean them.
"And that was when Bronsworth died?" Io asked.
"Yes. Apparently what had transpired was a complete unforeseen consequence. As the machine mimics the frequency with the already strong frequency being produced by the relics; he seemed to have created a sort of cascade as black water filled the chamber. As the chamber filled with black water there suddenly was a break as a third object appeared." Jane said as she reached in her desk and pulled out another picture. In this picture was a sharp black piece of metal. It had a handle on one end and a pointed tip at the other. It looked worn and rusted. Io's eyes grew wide.
"This was the object that broke through the glass chamber and killed Bronsworth." Jane said as she put her glasses back on. Io suddenly jerked her head up and stared at Jane.
"Why wasn't this brought to me?" Io said aggressively. She was starting to lose her patients. If there was one thing that she made clear to everyone in the departments whether it was the biology department or the engineering department was that she wanted to keep close tabs on everything that happens. Little things like these that slip by her get her really angry. The line was thicker now more than ever. Jane sat in silence.
"As you are fully aware, we don't have to report everything to you. The point of keeping this a secret was because it's the third earth relic that we have found. This one of all appeared out of nowhere from the first two and out of the mess we find ourselves two actual, living and breathing pre-dawn humans." Jane said as she leaned back in her chair. Io was sitting there stewing in her anger. Suddenly Io sprang from her chair and grabbed a hold of Jane's collar.
"Listen to me, I am responsible for keeping everyone here safe and you have seriously jeopardized everything!" Io said with fire in her eyes. Jane didn't flinch. She glared at Io's hands around her collar and looked back at Io with a cold glare.
"Get your meat hooks off of me you pugnacious brute." Jane said calmly. Io blinked a few times and let Jane go. Io then stormed out of Jane's office and slammed the door shut. She got more than she was expecting. She was now going to head to Bronsworth's old office and investigate the experiments that were conducted. As she left the room the line between them slowly faded. This wasn't the first time this has happened between them while working together. They mutually agreed that there will always be a line and they both respected each other for that. But as soon as it would be quiet hours the line between them disappeared, as if it was never there to begin with and all the stuff that happened between them during the waking hours on the clock didn't mattered.