Standard Note: This story is mostly my own creation. The characters are ALL mine. They are loosely based on real people, but they and the plot are mine! If you'd like to post this story on your website or use it for some other purpose, please Ask me. As long as you credit me, I won't have any problem. Just know that it's mine. Thank you.
Marie rolled over and forced her eyes open. The alarm clock near her bed was going off already, and she moaned and hit the sleep button.
"Seven o'clock already?" a voice from the bed above her moaned.
"Yeah, seems like we just went to bed," Marie agreed before fading out again. She had just dozed off when the alarm blasted again. "Damn," she mumbled. "Seven fifteen. Kali?"
"I'm up, I'm up," the voice above her replied with a groan. "What day is it?"
"Wednesday," Marie replied.
Kali groaned. "I hate Wednesdays," she groaned. Marie couldn't help but laugh. Kali said the same thing every morning.
"Actually, you hate mornings," she corrected. Kali tossed a stuffed bear down from the top bunk, but missed Marie by a mile. "Missed me," she informed her bunk mate as she handed the bear back.
Kali swung her legs over the side of the bed, but made no move to get up. "That's okay, I wasn't aiming for you," she replied, sticking her tongue out.
Marie opened the top drawer of the dresser they shared and pulled out her favorite red shirt. She removed the top of her pajamas and slipped into it. "You want blue or green today?" she asked, glancing again at the contents of the drawer.
Kali frowned and ran a hand through her tangled hair as she thought. "Green," she replied after a moment. Marie pulled the shirt out and tossed it to the top bunk, where Kali began to change. When she was finished, she tossed her pajamas back to the ground. They landed on Marie's head.
"Thanks," she replied sarcastically, pulling them off her head. Kali shrugged and flashed an innocent smile.
"I've been thinking," she began, changing the subject.
"Oh?" Marie pulled out two pairs of pants and tossed one to the top bunk.
"Yeah. About changing jobs."
"Again?" Marie asked. "You've already been a Watcher and a Caretaker and now you're working in Clothes. What do you want to do now?"
Kali laid on her back so she could squeeze into the pants without having to get out of bed. "I dunno," she replied. "I think I might want to go explore something."
"Explore something?" Marie repeated. "What's there to explore?"
"Nothing, really," Kali admitted. "But I have to go find someone."
"Find someone? Who? And where would you start looking?"
Kali didn't answer right away. "I'm not sure," she replied. "I just have to go…look."
Marie nodded. "You're strange, you know that?" she asked.
Kali nodded. "Yeah," she replied. "So are you."
"Not as strange as you!"
Kali shrugged and grinned. "Well, that's what makes me who I am," she replied. Marie stepped out of the room, and Kali jumped down from the bed and followed her. The two parted in the hallway, planning to meet as usual for lunch at around noon.
Kali turned down a different corridor and headed down some stairs. There was no one in the stairwell, so she was alone for the moment. She lifted her right hand and looked at it. The sleeve of the loose-fitting green shirt fell down to her elbow, leaving the brown circle on her wrist fully visible.
"Not as strange as you think," she mumbled belatedly. The door behind her opened, and she continued to head down the stairs.
"It's been four months," Risa could hear Julian announcing. "She should be able to do something by now."
Juliana didn't reply, but followed her brother. They entered the room together, and Risa felt a lump in her throat. She gulped, wondering what the two were planning.
Julian stood at the foot of the table. He was wearing an all-rubber jumpsuit, a rubber bathing cap, rubber boots, goggles, and rubber gloves. He looked like a cross between a cleaning lady, a janitor, a swimmer, and a spaceman. "Four months," he repeated. "Let's see what you can do."
Risa didn't say anything. She wasn't certain what she was supposed to do, and she had learned that it was best not to speak to Julian.
"All you have to do is focus," Juliana told her in a softer voice.
"Focus on what?" she asked.
Juliana looked blank for a moment.
"It should all be quite simple," Julian spoke up. "We've been focusing on the electricity containers in your body, filling them with the power you will need. All you have to do is harness that power."
Risa blinked.
'Electricity containers?' she thought. 'What are those?'
She stared blankly at Julian, wondering how she was supposed to harness some sort of power from some electricity containers when she didn't know what the heck an electricity container was or how she was supposed to access it?
'Your wrists,' a voice informed her out of nowhere. She looked around, wondering where it had come from. 'Your wrists,' the voice repeated, and Risa looked down at the small brown circles on both her wrists. 'The electricity containers are in your wrists and your brain. They're all connected. All you have to do is focus your mind on those areas of your body and the power will be released.'
Risa stared at the circles, wondering if the voice could be right and at the same time wondering where on earth the voice was coming from. "Focus on the circles," she mumbled softly, and shrugged. It couldn't hurt.
She raised both her arms and turned them, palm outward, to face Julian. He smiled, obviously pleased he wouldn't have to explain anything. She stared at her wrists and focused all of her mind on them. For a few moments, it seemed like there was nothing else in the world besides her wrists.
Then it happened. Faster than she would have thought. She felt as though her mind and thoughts had hit something of importance, and she felt a rush of power.
Julian felt a rush of water. He fell backwards out the door, landing on the ground, nearly drowned. The hall was covered with water, and sparks leapt into the air from where water had hit delicate electrical equipment.
Sputtering, the scientist stood up. Risa stared, her arms still held out in front of her. Juliana was speechless, but trying to hold back laughter. Julian was positively furious.
"WATER?" he bellowed. "Water? What on earth? Juliana, why does she have water?" He was so angry he could barely speak.
Juliana stopped herself from almost laughing and sobered immediately. "I-I don't know," she managed to gasp while looking somewhat serious.
Julian sputtered for a few moments and glared at Risa. Risa's eyes grew wide. Julian stammered and then stumbled off to find a towel, his sister following behind him. Risa turned her wrists to face her and stared.
'I did that?' she thought, too shocked to speak. She'd barely noticed the two scientists leaving the room.
A few moments of silence passed. Risa just stared at her hands, wondering exactly how electricity containers could release water. It was clear that there were a few things not quite explained to her. Over the last four months she had been experimented on in ways she was not quite certain of. What had they done? Obviously some sort of operation to put these so called electricity containers in her. But how had they released water? And so much of it? The floor in the hall outside was still soaked. And probably would be for a while. Julian's reaction told her that he had been surprised (to say the least) with the conclusion of their experiments as well.
'Well, I suppose that I'm one of a kind, now,' Risa thought to herself. She stared again at the brown, sore, burn marks on her wrists. She wasn't quite certain where they water had come from, only that there had been a ton of it and it had come at her command. She half-giggled to herself. 'I'm a freak now,' she chuckled. 'And even more than I used to be!' For some reason the whole concept seemed hilarious to her, and she began to laugh. 'This is really cool,' she thought to herself before collapsing in a fit of giggles.
Kali lifted her half-stuffed backpack and heaved it over her shoulder.
"Are you sure it's wise to go now?" Marie asked from her perch on the top bunk.
"Yep. I can't wait any longer," Kali replied. She took the backpack off again and opened it, examining the contents again.
"You're sure you won't be gone more than a month?"
"Can't guarantee," she replied as she removed a flashlight and took the light bulb out of it.
"Why are you taking the light bulb out?" Marie asked, pausing momentarily in her concern for her friend's well being to ask the question.
Kali looked surprised for a moment. "I don't need the flashlight," she replied after a moment. "Just the bulb." She tossed the empty plastic cylinder to her roommate with a grin.
Marie just stared, unsure of what use a flashlight bulb could have when there was no battery to power it.
"I'll try to get back as soon as I can," Kali assured her, returning the conversation to its original subject. "But I can't make any guarantees." She looked over the boxes of trail-mix food and condensed milk cans and nodded, sufficiently pleased with her stock of food.
"Are you sure I can't come with you? It's usually a good idea to travel with someone else," Marie pointed out.
"Yep. I'm sure. Gotta do this myself," Kali repeated for the seventy-fifth time since informing Marie of her plans. She peered over the clothes in the bottom of the sack. She was lucky. It was warm weather now, so she wouldn't have to take too much clothes with her. Had she waited until winter, her backpack would have been twice as heavy.
"What if you get lost?"
"I won't. I know where I'm going, and I know how to get back." Kali barely paid attention to the questions at this point; she was too busy checking over her supplies. Besides, she had already answered all the questions several - no, actually quite a few times - before. She managed to stuff the blanket she would use for a sleeping roll on the top of the clothes, and got to work trying to pull the zipper closed.
Marie sighed. "I wish you wouldn't go," she confessed.
Kali pulled and tugged on the plastic zipper, trying to get it to shut. "I'll be back, Marie, I promise," she reassured her friend as she tugged and pulled. "I'm not going forever."
Before Marie could respond, there was a knock at the door of the tiny room. "Come in," she called from the top bunk.
Kali moved aside so the door could open, and sat on the bottom bunk. She finally managed to shut the zipper sufficiently, and collapsed with a sigh.
"Tired already? You haven't even left yet," a voice above her quipped, and she looked up to see Riana standing in the doorway of the closet-sized room.
Kali managed to laugh. "Very funny," she replied. "I was trying to shut the zipper."
Riana nodded. "Right," she replied. "Well, I come on behalf of the people down in the clothing department, who offer you this humble gift of departure." She held out a small white box with no wrapping. A single green bow was stuck to the top of it.
"I hope it doesn't have to be packed," she commented. "Because I'm not opening that bag again."
Riana laughed. "I don't know. Open it, and then you'll find out."
Kali sat up again and took the box from Riana. It was a simple square box with no tape on it. She removed the lid and peered into the box.
"Hmm," she commented. "Practical."
"What is it? What is it?" Marie asked, peering over the top of the bunk above her.
Instead of answering, Kali took the gift out of the box and placed it on her head. It was a plain blue knit hat. Perfect for keeping warm in the winter.
"Practical for winter," Riana mused. "But that's not for another few months."
Kali shrugged. "Well, I'll bring it along just in case," she replied. She stood up and squeezed past Riana to look in the small mirror over the dresser. She adjusted it on her head and then grinned, turning back to her friends. "Fits," she commented with a smile.
"Isn't it a bit too warm to wear now?" Marie asked.
Kali shrugged again. "Maybe," she replied. "But I don't have any room to pack it, so I'll just have to wear it."
"I still don't see what could have caused it!" Julian frowned. His sister was worried about him. It had been two weeks since he'd been nearly drowned by Risa, and his mood wasn't getting any better. Not that Julian ever had really good moods, they just usually weren't this bad.
"Maybe her physiology is different from the first one," Juliana suggested in a quiet voice. She placed the plate of bland chicken, mashed potatoes, and green peas in front of her brother. Julian had warned her to never call their first subject by her name, so the siblings referred to her as "the first one."
Julian didn't respond to his sister's comment. Instead he used his fork to spear a piece of chicken, and began to eat it. Juliana held her breath. If the chicken wasn't done correctly, her brother could get quite upset.
Julian didn't appear to notice the taste of the food he was eating. "Probably," he admitted in a low voice. He put down his fork again. "I just don't know how!"
Juliana returned to the stove to get the teapot, all the while still listening to her brother's rants.
"We did everything the same way as we did with the last one!" Julian half shouted. He stuffed some mashed potatoes in his mouth. "We installed the electricity containers inexactly the same places, and we went through the same storage methods to get the electricity in there! What could have gone wrong?"
Juliana silently poured the tea. She didn't have the courage to point out to her brother that perhaps Risa's strangeness was not their fault, and that perhaps it didn't matter what they did right or wrong, she still would have come out that way. Instead she just stood next to the table, teapot ready in case he should want more tea.
Julian took the half-full cup and sipped it. He barely noticed his sister's presence. "Well, there's only one solution, of course," he concluded with a sigh.
Juliana waited, knowing that her brother couldn't keep what he considered to be a good idea to himself.
"We'll just have to send her back and get another one."
When the sun above her head began to rise, Kali dragged herself awake. The moist ground was cool even in summer, and she shivered slightly, working to start a fire so she could warm herself up as soon as possible. Ordinarily, she wasn't a morning person, but she needed to get moving again as soon as possible.
Before the sun had reached the treetops in the forest, Kali was done with her breakfast of dried eggs and condensed milk. She had been on the road for about a week, and her food supply was running low. But she wasn't worried. She packed up her bag again and doused her fire with dirt, ready to set off again.
She walked with her eyes closed, attempting to focus on whatever high readings the Julians' equipment had detected in Risa. That would be her way to finding her.
She had been reluctant to tell Marie and Riana that she knew their friend's location. She knew they would want to know how she knew, and then she would have to do a lot of explaining that she wasn't quite sure she could do. If she managed to explain everything correctly, then they would want to come along. And that she couldn't allow. It would simply be too dangerous.
She could sense that she was getting closer to the Julians' lab, and tried to be as quiet as she could. She could still sense Risa, which was a good sign. Neither she nor the two scientists knew precisely what the strange readings on Risa meant, but Kali could guess that they meant something different than the readings on her. She was worried that if the Julians didn't get the results they were looking for, Risa would be killed.
Kali made her way over the next hill, and spotted the small brick building below. 'I found it,' she thought to herself, and slowly made her way around the building.
Risa hadn't walked in almost half a year, so it was no surprise that her legs were sore when she stood up. She wobbled a bit, and Juliana helped her to steady herself.
She still wasn't certain where they were taking her. The only thing Julian had said was "I hope you're ready for the outside world." Which didn't make her feel too thrilled. Juliana, as usual, was remaining silent about her brother's plans.
Risa had been dressed in loose but slightly warm clothes. Thin gray pants, a loose half-sleeve green shirt, and plain leather shoes. Juliana had given her a small lunch-box-sized box, which she had instructed her not to open until she was outside.
She was lead out of the room which she had spent the last few months in and down the hallway. The floor was bright and clean from when she had soaked it a few weeks ago.
At the end of the hallway was a larger room that Risa suspected was the back of a truck. Juliana helped her climb into it, and with much trepidation, she sat down on a large brown trunk which was the only other thing in there. Then the doors were closed after her.
It became dark in the room, and Risa found that she could barely see her hand in front of her face. She clutched the small box she had been given tightly and waited. She assumed that, since it was the back of a truck, she was going to be transported somewhere. The question, however, was where.
She didn't hear the engine start, and for that reason was very surprised to feel herself start moving. Slowly at first, but then gradually increasing speed. Before long, she felt like the truck was moving at a very fast speed. Very fast.
Risa and the trunk slid towards the front of the cabin and, with a thud, crashed into the wall. She groaned slightly and attempted to stand up. She decided that she would have to get out of there as soon as possible.
She tried to run towards the other end of the trunk, but that was impossible. They were heading so fast in the opposite direction that the sheer force of inertia prevented her from getting more than a few inches.
A thought occurred. Maybe the force of water pressure could manage to open the doors. Yeah, that was it. That was her only option. She was certain that the truck was out of control, and if she didn't manage to get out, they'd probably crash. And then, if the movies she'd seen were true, the vehicle would explode. An explosion was not something she wanted to take part in. So Risa summoned all of her courage (of which there wasn't too much) and leaned against the back of the truck. She raised her hands, palms outward, and focused on her wrists and the "electricity centers" in them.
