DEVIMAYNA 2980 - Book One - Chapter 3

Hey you! Before you read this, if you haven't read the previous chapters, I suggest you do so first (if you want to, of course). So yeah. Enjoy :P

- Seventeen Years Earlier -

- Enter Josiak

She was strange, very, very strange. I'd counselled countless children these past few years of working as an SC, but never had I encountered a kid quite so odd as she seemed. A part of me felt uneasy, unsettled by this girl decades younger than me; another part of me was simply intrigued. Yet, was I surprised to meet someone like her? Of course not, it would be gullible to be so. The birthing pods we government agents and trainees all came from produced the most bizarre types of people, and nothing ever truly astounded me anymore.

Emotion rarely formed on the six-year-old's face, and the emotion itself would prove to be alarm most of the time. Her posture was unmatched in its inflexible rigidity, and I knew that couldn't be too comfortable. When her seemingly dull, hazy eyes moved, it was always in a fast, jerky motion, as though she was constantly on the edge of her seat, in a state of fierce paranoia. The doctor who had led me to the room had described the fellow AH as calm and distant, as a result of perhaps an improperly functioning artificial brain, yet what I saw before me was a child who was very present, very alert, in her own unusual way. I doubted there was anything actually off about her in her mechanical build. She, like the rest of us, was no more than a product of her environment.

"Hello there," I began gently, offering a hand towards her as I crouched down. "My name is Josiak, but you can call me Jo. You're Darcy, aren't you?"

She nodded, awkwardly gripping onto my large fingers with her tiny palms in a handshake. Her eyes bored into me, and her reply was uncannily monotone.

"Yes. I am Darcy Marsalis."

The girl's arm dropped back to her side, returning to its stiff default placement. Still staring hard, she went completely silent, waiting on my next words.

I forced an enthusiastic smile. "Well, as you know, I'm gonna be your personal Student Counselor for a long while. That means we're gonna be spendin' quite a lot o' time together. Is that okay?"

She nodded yet again, making no expression whatsoever.

"I'll leave you two be," the doctor across from us mumbled, moving towards the door, "to get to know each other. Good luck, Timberland."

I sat down at the desk, drawing out from my white coat a small flatscreen device, placing it upon the table as she took her seat opposite me. The tablet was displaying a long file, a list of inquiries I was supposed to bring up to her in order to get her "more comfortable" around me. These questions were stale and boring, including things like "what is your favorite food?" and "what is your favorite subject?" I considered these, scrolling around for a few moments, unsure of what to do. Under normal circumstances, I would merely go ahead and rattle off the lines, letting the kid do most of the talking. But now...

I remembered my strategy, my strategy that worked with all these children. All I had to do was make her feel special. Make her feel importantly different.

I held up the device, pursing my lips. "All right, Darcy, this is a long list of questions I'm supposed to be givin' you here," I started, pushing it towards her. She warily took up the screen and began inspecting the words as I continued. "They want me to ask you all that so that we can get to know each other better, but I don't feel like you're the kind of person to enjoy that sort o' talk, are you?"

Darcy blinked in response and set the object back onto the desk. I could tell I had piqued her interest by the way her posture inclined in my direction ever so slightly, the way her head was just barely tilted, the way her hands now firmly clasped onto each other, thumbs shifting restlessly. I had her full attention now.

Returning the tablet back into my deep side pocket, I smiled again and folded my hands in front of me, satisfied with where this was going. "I know you aren't. If you want to tell me who your favorite teacher is, or about your favorite food, or your favorite time of day as the document suggests, I would love to hear it. But I can tell there's a lot more to you than just that. There are other things you'd rather have me understand you to be, more than likes 'n' dislikes 'n' things."

She nodded, her gaze faltering. "Yes, sir."

"Right, then. Are you aware of what a student counselor does?"

"No, sir."

"I'm to be your guide."

"Guide... for what?"

"Everything. Education, the program, personal dealings... do you know why?"

"No, sir."

I had maintained eye contact with her before, naturally, but now I felt it was important to hold it even firmer. I leaned in, raising my eyebrows, pointing towards the door to my left. "Because," I whispered, emphasizing my words with little shakes of my head, "they think somethin' is different about you, Marsalis. You're smart, smarter than the rest.. Whether they believe that difference is for better or worse is inconsequential to them. All they want is for you to be prosperous, for their benefit. I'm here to help you with that."

Fresh light danced around in her strange foggy eyes. Her invested gaze matched mine perfectly, and I swear I could see the tiniest etches of a smile on her mouth. "Okay."

I genuinely felt bad. I hated doing this.

"Are you going to let me help you?" I questioned.

She moved away again, settling back into her chair with a comfortable exhale. "Yes, sir."

I stood up and set a small item on the desk. "See you tomorrow then, kiddo."

Outside the room was brighter than I'd remembered. As I walked over to where the doctor was situated, he chuckled, pointing to the girl behind the panel of one-way-mirror glass. Darcy Marsalis was carefully opening up the pouch I'd given her, retrieving a very appealing morsel of AH-safe candy from inside.

"You are something else, Mister Timberland," the man beside me remarked. "You know how to make those kids feel like they're special. It's almost cruel."

"Just doin' my job, sir." I sighed, shoving the tablet from my coat into his hands. Knowing what was coming for Darcy in the program made my heart drop, and now that I was observing her from afar, I found it hard to look at her loosened expression.

"Well, you've got two other kids to meet up with today, so standing around isn't probably the best idea."

I nodded. "Right, right..."

My walk down the corridors of the KEPC felt much longer than usual that day.

--

- Enter Darcy, present day

The magnificent dawn of the new morning came with a brilliant array of soft, beautifully saturated hues and shades cast into the heavens, with a set of wispy pink clouds drifting lazily across the sky. Shame no one in Kartov, myself included, could see past the dark blanket of smog hovering over the city, or that'd be right pleasant.

The time on my wristwatch displayed 05:01. My eyes were even duller than usual, and I hadn't even attempted to cover the black sleepless lines underneath. Despite the repairs made on me, my synthetic innards were aching terribly from last night's drinking episode, and the cords in my joints felt as though they were going to split at any given moment. Regret swamped my thoughts.

I stood stoically silent on top of sector four of the impossibly high southern wall in my brand new uniform, weapons strapped to my shoulders and hips, and my black armor-suit in the jet. Chancing a look behind me, I saw the dizzying drop to the pavement miles down was obscured by the haze, but much of the architecture below was still visible.

For such a vast, crowded place, Kartov does not require many key words to describe it. The ones it does elicit, however, are just as vague as they are incredibly accurate: bleak, gray, overpopulated, lawless. Everything was always dark -- day in and day out. The daylight (which I've only ever seen a precious few times before) would assumedly come around, and yet the thick cloud of dense blue fog and smoke perpetually blanketing the city-state entirely prevented the luminance from ever reaching us citizens in any tangible way. I didn't even know where the daylight came from in the first place - and whether or not this fog encased the whole earth was a complete mystery to most, not that most ever pondered this query. I supposed I was about to find out the answer to that question.

Very few people ever get the chance to see the outside. Those of the KFMD were virtually the only ones legally given the opportunity.

The chilly atmosphere was not the only aspect of Kartov that was dark. The buildings, all crafted from the same smooth metal as the next, were colored a deep leaden, with similarly tinted windows and of similar shape, almost every last one of them. The only constructions that deviated from this trend were the most important government buildings, leviathan megastructures reaching so high into the smog that calculating its size would bring the numbers of any form of measurement into at least the thousands. The only emotions inspired by this architecture were the harsh drums of fear and petrified awe. The KCMC was one such proponent.

Our roads were naturally quite pale, and the sidewalks consisted of a like shade. The metropolis stretched for miles upon miles upon miles, and yet there was hardly a singular block inside the square of land that was not covered in the same pattern of depressing, unimaginative cube buildings and skyscrapers. The reason I stated overpopulated as a descriptor was because, while most of the government agent personnel was composed of AHs, a few pure-born, authentic humans had apparently escaped out onto the streets a long, long time ago, filling the city with an uncontrollable amount of useless people that did nothing but take up space and fight. Doesn't sound like the greatest place in theory, but it was my home. I was already feeling uneasy again, being so far from the streets I was familiar with.

Captain Timberland paced around in front of me, muttering to himself vague frustrated statements. Before us was a moderately-sized black high-speed OWV-19 jet, facing the unknown territory. It would be time for takeoff soon, but nevertheless, neither of the other two components of our small crew had arrived. They were far behind schedule, and time was something to be valued. However, Josiak didn't seem too worried.

Without warning, an abrupt screeching noise erupted from about ten yards away, followed by the sounds of frenzied fluttering as a wave of crows took to flight, swooping right over our heads. Eyes wide, I allowed myself to drop my rigid posture for a moment, turning to face the source of the sound.

"Sorry!" shouted a feminine voice from below the towering parapets. "Can't stand those confounded feathersacks... no, I take that back, they're quite adorable..."

Racing up the staircase to us was an exceptionally tall girl with quite a strong build. She stood out immensely, not just because of her unusual size, but also thanks to her beauty. She had very long, crimped yellow-blonde hair that gradually grew lighter as it flowed down, tied back in a loose colonial-style ponytail and with curtain bangs framing the sides of her face perfectly. Accompanying this were dazzling, lively emerald eyes that glowed with the city lights, nicely tanned white skin - a rarity in Kartov, and, overall, uncommonly nice features to look at. As she climbed up the last few steps, she caught notice of me, and flashed a brilliant smile in my direction, waving enthusiastically. I was too far off to read the badge on her chest, but I already could guess who this was. Officer Rhiannon Amalia Whitlock. The only sentence that could form in my puzzled brain was What is up with this person? She seemed so cheerful and bright. Like not a care in the world had ever perpetrated her mind. Deep down, I knew I envied this woman, jealous of her strangely carefree composure. But more than anything, I was simply baffled.

I fully expected her to shout my name and dive straight into a conversation about the first thing that would inevitably come to her mind, yet to my surprise, she dashed forward to take a stiff (but awkward) stance next to me, saluting the captain and keeping her mouth shut. I can't say I was too disappointed. It was far too early for that sort of thing.

"Good morning, Officer Whitlock," Josiak called with a nod. "You're late again."

"Sorry, Cap! Only by a few minutes, though."

"Better than last time, I suppose. And that's Captain to you."

"My bad--"

"Where's your hat?"

"Oh! That's in my bag. Didn't want it to fly off in the morning breeze, y'see. Speakin' o' which, ain't it a nice day today? I bet you the sun's real gorgeous right no--"

"Watch yourself, Whitlock," he interjected tersely, looking a little tense. "You know it's dangerous to talk about such things." He motioned to the microphone in his earpiece, then to the silhouette of the KCMC far off in the distance.

What's The Sun? I wondered. I'd never heard that word before.

Whitlock shuffled her boots, shutting her eyes tight. "Ah, sorry sir, I forgot."

"Hat?" His voice signaled he was ready for a quick change of conversation.

"Right, right, hold on..."

I raised my eyebrows, a little taken aback by the casual manner in which they spoke to each other. Whitlock knelt down onto the ground, slinging her haversack off her shoulders before yanking it open. From the bundle she drew a military cap, of the same white color as our tops, that looked slightly too large on her. I let out a small chuckle as she pulled the item over her head, flicking it into place as it sunk over her eyes. She grinned wide. "Bingo."

Despite my presuppositions about making relations and other people generally, I couldn't help but find myself growing more fascinated by Whitlock. I was intrigued by her, and the longer I watched her weird antics, the more I was beginning to believe she wouldn't be any trouble to me.

"Say," Josiak added, "d'you know where Madden is yet?"

The blonde shook her head, shrugging. "Nope, not got a clue. She usually messages me when she wakes up but she didn't today. Guess she slept in... she was attending a party in the Underground last night, y'know."

My eyebrows raised even further, if possible. The captain was fine with them going to the Underground? What kind of leniency was this? I wasn't going to complain, obviously, as I myself got up to all kinds of things below the surface; but I was purely shocked at the fact a government authority didn't mind either. Well, I guess he had dragged me out of the KCLH already this morning. That did say a lot about where his priorities were laid. I was okay with that.

"A party?" He scowled. "I've had so many talks with her about this... no parties on nights before missions..." A desperate expression crossed his features. "I'll be right back, you girls stay put. I'm going to contact the trackers."

As Josiak stalked off, furiously tapping at his earpiece, Whitlock drew in a sharp breath through her teeth, leaning towards me from the side. "Not good, not good," she commented. "Winoa's always getting' up to this kinda stuff. I'm surprised she hasn't been laid off yet. Glad she hasn't though, I'd be real sad if she got moved to another division."

I pursed my lips, inching away from her close proximity. "Yeah..."

"I suppose it's 'cause she's got loads o' money," she continued, "but I'm not supposed to tell you that. Crap. Don't tell her I told you that."

I merely nodded. She turned her head in my direction, cocking up a brow at my uncomfortable posture.

"So you're Darcy, eh? You look a lot paler in your ID photo."

"Thank... you...?" I clenched my jaw awkwardly.

"But that's a good thing, because it means you're actually very okay-looking in real life! ID photos always look silly. Hah, look at mine."

She extracted a small card from her breast pocket, presenting it to me with a stifled chuckle. I slowly drew it from her grasp, and it was only moments later that I too was muffling my own laugh in my sleeve.

"To be fair... I had tried to make it look as awful as possible," she proudly proclaimed as her eyes graced over the odd picture. "People are so boring when it comes to these things, I decided I'd spice it up a bit."

In the photo, her hair was done up in a ponytail that was rooted directly on the top of her head, so that her curly locks draped over her face. She had copious amounts of lipstick smattered on and around her mouth, and her eyes were wide, wide open - almost unsettlingly so. I was so taken aback by this brazen display of courage that I had forgotten to keep my face straight.

"How..." I whispered, as though someone were about to catch her for this, "...did they let you use that...?"

"I was friends with the guy makin' the cards. Nice chap, him. Oh, anyways, look who's back. This'll be interesting to watch." She grinned, stuffing the ID back into its place.

She must have grown up in some other world. Some other universe. Some place other than Kartov, I reasoned. I had never, ever met someone as... eccentric as her... and I had never expected to. I needed to know more about her. About what part of the city she grew up in. What number her birth pod was. What trainers and counselors she had. What sector of the government education system she was brought up with. What kinds of compromises she'd had to make. What kind of friends she had. What kind of wealth she owned. I needed to know everything. She evidently had the answer to many of my impossible queries in life, and yet seemed to flaunt them so effortlessly. I admired her deeply.

I blinked hard as I pulled my stare away from her glowing face to see Josiak stomping back to where we stood, appearing very agitated.

"I've sent her three messages now, and she hasn't even had the decency to respond to a single one, the brat," the captain hissed at the man in his radio. "I've got no clue where she's at, and we're supposed to be departing within the next twenty minutes. Can't even believe the disrespect..."

"You want me to access her location?" came the response.

"That would be appreciated, sir."

A few moments of awkward silence followed before the inquiry was addressed. "Ahh, let's see... says here she's about fifteen minutes away. Taking public transportation. An aerobus, it seems."

"Oh gosh..." Josiak gave himself a fair smack in the face. He let out an exhale before tapping into the mic again. "Thank you sir. That'll be all." Releasing the transmitter, he returned to grumbling quietly once more. "Stupid girl... not supposed to take public transportation to classified missions... good grief, why she even got assigned to this job is beyond me..."

The tracker's word proved true. It was a strange sight, to witness a common aerobus whipping up to the top of the southern wall, loaded with bewildered passengers and an evidently equally confused driver. The vehicle halted smoothly and opened its doors as it hovered above the surface of the rampart. And would you know, from the bus emerged the very officer they were expecting, a short girl appearing a bit older than me, who seemed to be a little too confident in her step, nearly faceplanting the moment she exited the coach. Her gait was a bit unsteady and sluggish, and one look at her pale face, set with dark eyebags and a faded stare, would make it obvious that she, too, was recovering from some sort of hangover from the previous night, albeit a milder one.

"Here, sir... sorry I was a bit late, had stuff going on..."

"Late?" Josiak barked. "Late? You were expected to arrive over twenty-five minutes ago! 'Had stuff going on'? What on earth could you find to be more important than your government-assigned work?!"

The girl's posture gradually began to slouch even further, and an intimidated look formed on her face as the captain's voice grew in volume.

"You have a job to do, you are very privileged to even be here, young lady! How you even got in this division with your work ethic is beyond me, the disregard for others is immeasurable! The least you could have done was send a message to let me know you would arrive late, yet you couldn't even think to do that! And don't even get me started on the aerobus--"

"I said I was sorry! I don't know what you want me to do now! I'm sorry I was late, won't happen again! Is that all or are we done?"

I, who had been keeping my gaze straight ahead and emotionless for most of the conflict, could not help but slowly turn my head and present a small, shocked smile with wide, sleep-deprived eyes at the girl, a look that could be roughly interpreted as "there is no way you just said that." Meanwhile, Whitlock appeared to be trying to send a warning glance. Josiak, clearly infuriatedly amused by the blatant disrespect on display, fell silent before resuming muttering to himself again, lost in a personal deliberation, it would seem. It would be a solid twenty seconds of quietude before he would speak properly aloud again, though his voice was much softer than before.

"All right then. I'm going to go ask the mechanics a few questions about the inspection. I will return shortly to brief you on the mission once more. And then we will board. Stay where you are."

Off he trod towards the underbelly of the jet. What would follow was a fairly uncomfortable hush between us three girls. I took advantage of this time to assess the new arrival.

She was about the same as I in height, with very dark skin and eyes. She had exceptionally beautiful shoulder-length, coily black hair worn in a bun, and clearly paid a lot of attention to her stunning looks. And while there was nothing wrong with... well... doing a meticulous full face of makeup before showing up to a foreign isolated mission at five in the morning, it was a little strange that this was her chosen path. I decided that she didn't seem like a mean person, just that she had probably never been told the word no. The badge on her chest read Winoa N. Madden. As she fussed with her button-up, perhaps trying to get a stain off, she noticed my gaze, and flashed a wide, unbothered grin at me.

Josiak came trotting back, his usual serenity restored. "Okay girls, things are all well aboard our OWV-19, the jet is ready for departure. Now, to refresh your memories, this is how things are goin' to go, so pay attention, smart-like." He began a slow circular pacing path in front of us. "A station near the South Pole has not been responding to our signals for two months now. This is highly unusual. We tried sendin' out a drone twice to understand the situation, but some poor weather had foiled those plans, and according to satellites the storms are not going to let up for quite some time. Additionally, the KFMD has been a little understaffed recently, and this hasn't helped the issue. So, we are going to head down there to inspect the station and ensure that all is well. After a thorough examination and assessment we will return, either having fixed the problem completely, or, if the issue requires assistance, at least with a solution in mind. Clear enough?"

We all nodded in unison. Josiak returned this gesture, satisfied. "Good, good. Now, I'm aware some of you know each other, and some of you don't. Darcy Marsalis, Rhiannon Whitlock, Winoa Madden. Hope y'all like each other, 'cause you'll be spending a fair amount of time together. Whitlock, Marsalis, to the jet. I need to have a word with Madden."