The Decaying World
Chapter 2: Hawk and Sparrow
Name: Unknown….
Species:Human
Gender: Female
Hair Color: Brown.
Eye Color: Green
Height: 5’1”
Weight: 98 lbs
Age: aprox. 22
Background: Unknown….
Family: Unknown….
DNA analysis complete. Awaiting command.
Hawk grunted as he slammed the computer console. He had spent atleast an hour in front of the med-bay computer trying to find something out about this mysterious girl. Here she was, the one who managed to avoid the Wave, and he didn’t know how. Originally he figured it was a minion of the tower but nothing about her said she was. “Another mystery I’ll have to solve… maybe her book holds some clues?” He put it in the lock up hours ago. Sparrow promised she’d take a look at it, but she had other things to take care of. So he wasn’t surprised it hadn’t been done yet. He locked down the computer and stepped away from it.
After checking on the girl in the cage, who had been unconscious due to a combination of drugs and rough treatment, he stepped out of the room. As he walked down the corridor to the Labs, he wondered if there was one girl who avoided the wave, were there others?
Hawk didn’t have time to dwell out as he walked into the Labs. Stepping inside he put in his personal id code to unlock the door.
“Oi! Sparrow!” He called out stepping in.
“Oh good, you’re here Hawk, Did you get any information from her in medbay?” A girl responded, looking over. Her long black hair was tied into a low ponytail, going over her well worn labcoat, as she typed away at her lab computer. On it flashed many different designs of things she had been working on.
“Unfortunately the Med-bay computers had no ability to Identify her, or even where she came from.”
“What do you mean? Everyone is in the database, Maybe the computer just had an error.” Sparrow surmised, looking back at him quizzically.
“Not her. She doesn’t exist apparently.” Hawk answered, walking over to the lab computer and pulling up the information from the database. The girl in the cage appeared on a picture in there as well as several bits of information. But the information was still well incomplete.
“Well then we’ll have to look through her things. I’ll do that in a bit. Too much to do so little time.” She sighed leaning back in her chair. “Oh by the way, The scanners picked up another event. Just like the last one.”
“Where at?” Hawk questioned turning towards the map.
“32 by 58, looks to be some sort of farmland.”
“All the way out there? Why?”
“Well that’s what you need to go figure out isn’t it?”
“I’ll get right on it then. By the way, while I’m out check through the girl’s things.” The last leader ordered turning towards the door.
“You don’t need my help?” the raven haired girl asked
“I do, and you can do that by doing what I told you to do hours ago.”
“I’ve been busy with your suit!”
“And I thank you for that, but that could have waited as well. I don’t have to spend all day in the suit, my skills are good enough to keep me-“
“STOP!” she suddenly screamed, anger written on her face. Her demeanor suddenly serious compared to the laidback behavior she was just exhibiting.
“You still holding on to that? Look Lillian, He’s gone! The brainwashed masses took care of that! He’s now one of them.”
“That doesn’t mean you can go out and do the same thing as him!! He said the same thing to me and he got swarmed! You’re not going without your suit! Ever! End of discussion!....” she screamed then quietly mumbling while looking away, “I can’t lose you too… Not like that.”
“Ok ok, I won’t ever go without my suit on any mission. Ok? You’re not gonna lose me.” Looking back at the map, Hawk studied it. “You know, Alpha and Beta are out that way, I could stop by and do a little investigating, see how they are faring, or if they fell like Omega and Zeta did.”
“Ah that’s right! I forgot about them! It’s been a while since we’ve been able to contact them!” Sparrow said, back to her usual carefree attitude. Hawk knew that it was all an act, something Sparrow put it to cover up the pain of losing her friends and family, hoping one day she’ll get them back. He didn’t blame her for it though, if it kept her going for another day he didn’t mind.
“I’ll get right on it, I’ll see you in a bit Sparrow.”
With that Hawk left the room, leaving Sparrow by herself. After a few moments of sitting, trying to keep herself together she got up and left the room heading for the lockup.
*********
I don’t know when I woke up, all I knew, was I was sitting in a cage in some kinda lab. The room around me looked like it was held together. For a moment I was confused at how I got there, then I remembered the man who attacked me. Guess I was a prisoner now. I had to find a way out.
Looking around I spotted the lock to the cage, I didn’t have very good lockpicking skills, or any at all so that was out of the question. There was no key nearby either. Ooooof course not. Kicking it didn’t get me anywhere either, either than to help me vent frustration. And screaming for help, as stupid as it was, got me no results. Why do these things always have to be so hard? Sighing I sat at the back of the cage and just stared at a wall.
“Interesting, so you have given up?” A voice said, coming out of seemingly nowhere. Either I’m going crazy, or someone is in this room with me. And I really hope I’m not going crazy. I’ve only been conscious for an hour!....I think…There’s no sky or clock to judge. I looked around outside the cage but found no one. Yup, going crazy. Dang it, I thought I had until I was an old lady until that happened. “Little miss, can you hear me?” The voice called again.
“He-hello?” I hesitantly called out, unsure if what I was hearing was true or not.
“Ah good, I was beginning to think one of my circuits fried.”
“Tell me about it…wait, Circuits? Who are you?”
“My creator has dubbed me the Virtual Assistant Logistic. Or V.A.L. for short, however my users just call me computer. And to answer your question, yes, circuits as I am an AI.”
“Ok, that answers some things. Since we’re going to be playing ask and answer, you ask a question now.” I responded trying not to pass any boundaries with my new company. If I’m going to be stuck in a cell I’d rather have someone or something to talk to, plus I might get some more answers.
“Very well I refer to my first question, have you given up on trying to break out?” She asked me. So she was watching me the entire time I’ve been awake, should have expected that. Then again I don’t really know what’s going on so I’m rolling with it.
“Ah, yeah. There’s no point, No key for the lock, the bars are solid, no lockpicking skills what so ever to speak of. In Otherwords, I am captured, and am forced to do your user’s bidding.”
“Seems like a conundrum doesn’t it?”
“Yeah…..Hey, that was two questions!” I realized pointing a finger in a random direction of the voice.
“So it was.”
“My next question is why I am in this cage?”
“You were captured by the one known as Hawk when he found you in the outer ruins in the city. In my opinion force was not needed, but he is being very protective of what he has.”
“Ok and where am I?”
“That is classified.” Val stated simply. “until we know you further we cannot trust you with the knowledge. What is your name?”
“Kiranim Silvanae, which you would have found in my diary. I assume you still have it?”
“Affirmative. You give us permission to read this diary?”
“Not like I have much of a choice, If it gets me out of here then I’m all for it. And can you tell Hawk not to beat me up anymore? I am not a fighter.”
“Ah, That is good to hear.”
“Final question, since I’m not going anywhere, can you stay and chat instead of hiding like you did before?”
“Depends on what my users decide, but for the time being, I can.”
Not wanting to get lonely I talked with val for hours, forgetting I was in a cage at the mercy of whatever was holding me here.
***************
Note from Author: SOrry this took me so long, i've been dealing with alot of stress as of late, as in my recent Blog on here showed, And I didn't know where I wanted to take this, so I let my mind take it for me. Sorry it has a lot of talking scenes in it, But it's litterally the first time I had talking characters in the same room. VAL is also something I've been wanting to use for a while. But never got a chance to do so.
Sparrow sat at a table in the cafeteria reading the girl’s diary. She was quite the information gatherer. If the diary was anything to be believed, Kiranim grew up in another world. Homeless but still finding a purpose in life. This thing call Free Running. Which, up till now, kept her safe and out of trouble. This Jeril seemed to have a positive effect on her. The more she read, the more engrossed in the girl she became. Until the point she didn’t notice Hawk behind her.
“You’re really into that diary.” Hawk announced his presence, causing sparrow to jump. “Sorry.”
“Don’t do that!” She was trying to catch her breath as she looked at him.
“I said sorry. Anyways, Find anything useful?”
“Yeah, It appears she’s not even from this world, which explains how she avoided the wave, and even now not under its effects. Sarlian is the name of her world she’s trying desperately to get back to. Even though she’s homeless she found her purpose.”
“I see. Does she have a name? and how did she end up here?”
“According to this Diary, Kiranim Silvanae. And as to how she got here, There was an experiment on her world that she volunteered to test.”
“A kid volunteering to test an experiment?” Hawk asked, not believing it.
“Yeah I know, But Val believes it and is integrating the information into her databanks as well. Those two are really getting along.” Hawk smirked turning back to the diary.
“Yeah I still find that a bit odd, that she sees Val as a friend instead of a computer.” Hawk rubbed the back of his head questioningly.
“Even though I am nothing but 1s and 0s does not mean I don’t have feelings Agent Hawk. How did your mission go?” Val piped in knowing Sparrow forgot about the mission.
“Ah, nothing to report. The readings are there, but it’s like nothings there. THeres debris around but if something was there it’s not there any longer.”
“Like teleportation?” Sparrow asked looking up.
“Seems to be. If that’s the case…”
“Then there are holes being torn in the fabric of reality. Bringing things in. I detect nothing missing otherwise.” Val continued.
“But if something’s coming through…..This girl…..Kiranim, their world was experimenting with teleportation. If that’s the case Maybe this Jeril came through looking for her. The way she writes about him, he was like a father figure to her.” Sparrow put the diary down and stood up looking at hawk. “And if he did, then we have to find him before anyone else does.”
“Why?” Hawk asked, seeming indignant.
“Because if someone’s coming through from another world. Then they’re being lead into a trap in this world. Into the pain and suffering that takes place. You’ve seen what the Wave does. It not only controls people, it turns their brain to mush so only their lower faculties are running. They become puppets! Pawns in a greater game!”
“and if the tower finds out and sends their minions to that world….” Hawk thought getting his mind on track.
“Then that entire world becomes like this one. And the Tower gains control of not two worlds, but an infinite number of worlds.” Val finished.
“If that’s true….then who ever came through if it was a person needs to be found. And warned.” Came a 4th voice. Sparrow and hawk turned towards it to find the girl, standing there outside of the cage. How did she get out? She was locked safely in it.
I looked at the two people infront of me. According to Val they were her….users….I don’t like that word. I prefer friends? Coworkers? Do AI have coworkers? Val is too much like a person to be an AI….so then what is she?
“But um If something came through and Val can track the Events….couldn’t she track a person’s signature that come through?” I offered.
“She’s right.” The one I believe to be sparrow offered as she looked at Hawk. “I mean that’s how we tracked her down. What we thought to be anomaly turned out to be her.”
“Yeah but how did she get out of the cage.” Hawk asked growling at me and moving to grab me. I shrank back when val chimed in.
“I let her out. I saw no reason to leave her in there any longer, as you only told me to keep her in there until we got the information on who she was.”
“Technicality!” Hawk looked up at the ceiling. Sparrow laughed.
“She’s got you there. Anyways, Kiranim is it? I assume you know how we are, considering you just spent 3 days chatting with Val in med bay.” Sparrow asked smiling at me. I nodded numbly. “Good then introductions are not needed. Val, can you do as she suggested and scan for any biological signatures that may have appeared there?”
Val didn’t respond which I took to mean she went off to do her ordered task. Sparrow offered me some food which I gladly took. Hawk wandered offsomewhere, I assume to do some work but it’s equally likely to be some sulking. He seemed to be the type who likes to be in charge, from what I saw. But I don’t have much experience in that regard. And I didn’t dwell on it too much. My top worry right now was what was going to happen to me. And if someone did come through from the otherside, was it Jeril? I have so many questions and no answers.
Elsewhere, the lone being hunkered down in a cave away from the cold. He had just narrowly avoided being caught by these strange people. They didn’t really appear to be capable of thought to him. So just as quickly as he found his way into the city, he found himself outside of it. Deciding to check it out tomorrow when it was daylight. His Free Running ability should give him the chance to avoid trouble for the most part. But would he find what he's looking for? Only time would tell.
Authors note:
Sorry for the length of the story, it's been a trying month. But we got progress! and a new person enters the field! Comments are as always appreciated, and This time, I wanna take your predictions on where the story is going. Thanks!