Her arm snapped to the side. The sound of her gi flicking echoed in the empty room. She brought her arms back, swinging them into an arc and formed the symbol of the rising sun above her head as her right foot slid up onto the pads of her toes, her left leg behind her right, angling to keep her balanced. Her arms completed the semi-circle as she drew in the deep breath that came with it.
Draw breath in. Pause. NOW!
Quickly, her foot slid out of its pointed position, causing her to lean forward as her forearms slammed together, catching the invisible enemy in their impact. “Hu!” Then she slid her left fist back to her left hip, while her right arm swung towards her as if she’d yanked the enemy and thrown him on the ground.
Her feet had spread out, enough to get her closer to the ground but not unbalanced. Her left fist flashed from her hip hitting towards the ground, her Gi snapping again. “Ha!” Her body then moved in a fluid motion, bringing her up to stand straight, her arms falling to her sides as she bowed and waited.
The enemy was dead and it had all happened in the matter of 5 seconds.
A clapping sound came and the woman smiled as she straightened back up, “That was beautiful, Haylee. You’ve learned much since coming here…”
Haylee bowed again, “Thank you Sensei Yuri-san… I’ve enjoyed learning.”
“As I have enjoyed teaching… you’ve one final test though, are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“It is time for you to leave and face the world once more… when you have gone, promise to remember what you’ve learned and learn what others learn.”
“I will…”
***
Haylee opened her eyes, the morning sun filtering over her face. She lifted her hands and rubbed her eyes, tired. Dropping her hands, she looked at them. They were tan from working in the sun, and dry, very dry, they caused a rough feeling when she rubbed the back of her neck. She swung her legs around to slide off the bed.
She had had that dream again. Always the same one…
She had been in the motions of what she had later learned was a kata, and always the same old man… Sensei Yuri-san. From her dream she gathered him to be a well together individual, knowing but always with that sort of happy, easy feeling. Haylee sighed…
Ever since that one time… since the time she’d forgotten everything, she had felt as if she’d had a huge hole in heart. An empty spot that could not be filled no matter what Haylee tried to do. She stood up from the bedside and reached for a white bathrobe, the cotton cloth scraping across her skin as she pulled it on.
Yes… ever since that one time… She’d tried looking up the name Yuri-san, but never did she find anything. It was as if he were a ghost or had simply never existed except in her head. She walked to the bathroom and freshened up, emerging in her usual clothes; a tank top and comfortable pants that were neither to loose, nor to tight. She sank back down onto the edge of the mattress, pulling her socks on and then reached for her boots.
Her past, her need to remember, could be put off until later. Put off so that Haylee could live more of her current life.
She reached her hand out to snatch up her denim jacket, that she pulled on over herself, her other hand catching hold of her gun and sliding it into the holster on her right leg. Yes… more important things to do than hunt for and lace together fragmented memories.
******
Her boots made neat clicking sounds as she walked down the halls of OMNI Corps. The interior was completely made of metal, sterile and clean. She tossed her hair back with a hand as she glanced around before turning left.
Captain Gerrald, head of the old police force, had asked her to attend a meeting. He hadn’t told Haylee what exactly it would be about, but she had gathered from the tone of his voice that it was an important one.
She came to the end of the hall, and took a right, entering the third room she came to. Several were there already: Alfred Hearth, head of engineering, the Captain of course, and, surprisingly, Alicia Kallis, head of the department of phenomenon.
Captain Gerrald waved a hand for her to take a seat, which Haylee did. She sank down into the uncomfortable plastic chair, a common thing at the Corps. Her hands rested on the cold metal armrests as she crossed one leg over the other.
Alfred cleared his throat, “Shall we begin?”
Alicia nodded and began to separate folders in front of her, right before passing one of each to the other three. Haylee reached out and took hers, flipping it open and looking at the various things; mostly the pictures. And the only way they could be described was as gruesome.
She shuffled the papers back and then tilted back in her chair, the seat creaking with her shifting weight. Alicia tossed her dirty blonde hair over her shoulder again and shifted in her own seat, leaning forward so that she could fold her hands on top of the table, “Ladies… gentleman… what you see before you should be no surprise. Constant reports have been coming in of anomalies appearing everywhere. If you’ll turn to page 2 of your handouts…”
Haylee pulled the folder onto her lap and did as asked, flipping the papers over with a quick russle. The words on the page began to blur before her eyes, Alicia’s voice continuing to drone on…
“As you can see, monsters of incredible strength have appeared out of no where and either kidnapped or killed the residing residences in that area. If you’ll turn to page five please…”
There was more paper turning and Haylee’s head dipped to the side, her eyes closing…
Her arm came up as the man in dark clothes swung the wooden board down. The edge hit and then slid off as Haylee dropped down and swung her leg around to drop him to the ground. But he leaped, his own foot coming up in mid-jump to nail her across the jaw bone. Her head snapped back and the woman found herself flung back forward, her hands slamming into the ground to stop her forward movement.
“Pathetic,” said the male’s voice, his shoes tapping across a pristine floor of polished gray marble, “Is this what Yuri has to show for his efforts? A washed-up and weak woman?”
Her hair fell forward to hide her face, the taste of blood in her mouth. His hand lashed out and caught her across the face, sending her sprawling across the floor. His feet continued to make more clicking sounds and the next thing she knew, her head was being pulled back by her loose hair, “Well? Anything to say for yourself?”
Her eyes glared back at his cold black ones and then she spit in his face, her saliva mixed with blood hitting him squarely along the cheek, just below the eye. He lifted his free hand and wiped it away. Leaning in he opened his mouth, his horribly sweet voice whispering into her ear, “Haylee… Haylee!”
“Haylee… hey! Come back to us please… we need an opinion!” came the captain’s voice. She stirred and then snapped back wide-awake, catching her folder before it could fall and hit the floor.
“What was that sir?”
“We need your opinion… or rather… we wish to know if you’ll attempt the assignment?”
She blinked slightly. Why did she have to drift off then? Haylee shifted uncomfortably in her seat and coughed, “I would need more details.”
“Yes of course,” came Alfred’s voice. He stood up and walked up towards the wall. Flipping open a panel, he pressed a button inside. The lights started to dim and the front wall slid back revealing a white screen. An image slowly appeared the outline of metallic parts becoming evident.
The man sat back down and cleared his throat, “As we were saying, we believe these things to not be of our world. We managed to gather alot of data from the areas where these monsters have been appearing. It seems as if they are creating a disturbance in the space and time of the universe.”
Haylee blinked, “O..k… so what is it that I’m expected to do?”
“We wish you to be a test subject for this contraption we’ve designed,” Alfred indicated to the white board behind him. The thing pictured, reminded her of some medieval torture device. There was a seat and then what looked like restraints and then around the seat was a metal cage.
Alicia lifted a hand to her mouth and giggled, “It does look rather…archaic… but we’ve already ran regular tests with robots and such.”
“Then why do you need me to test it?”
“Because when they get to the otherside, they seem to suddenly become… destroyed… or they compact or something… we really aren’t to sure,” Alfred said, glancing down at the table, the light flashing over his glasses.
Haylee blinked. And they wanted her to take the risk of losing her life? She gave an annoyed glance towards the captain. She knew why though.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Their backs were to her as she followed the group down towards the room. Alicia juggled a huge file of papers, while Alfred kept crinkling his nose to move his glasses back up. Capt’n Gerrald walked just slightly ahead of Haylee, his hands cupped behind his back as was his common posture.
They turned a corner and then came to a set of double doors. Alicia turned and dumped all of her things on Alfred, while her free hand dug into her lab coat for a keycard. Finding that, she quickly opened the doors before them, the metal sounding hollow as it slid to the sides.
The two in front stepped through as if they had always lived there and then paused, turned, and looked back at Haylee and the Captain. Her commanding officer walked through and then Haylee followed after. The first thing she noticed was how dark it was… there was only a dim glow from a set of neon panels on the floor. It casted a sickly green on everyone’s complexions.
“Lights,” commanded Alicia as she turned and walked towards one of the walls. In a stunning flash, whiteness filled the room and then dimmed slightly. Haylee sighed. This room was so much like the other rooms around there. Sterile. Empty. Well… almost empty.
In the center sat the contraption that she was being pressured into trying. It’s Neanderthal qualities making it look hostile and odd in that overly clean room. The floor dipped down to it and that was when she realized how spherical the room was. The ceiling arched high above them, forming the top half of a sphere. The floor did the same.
Alfred walked towards her and held a hand out, “If you’ll come this way please…”
Haylee nodded and then followed him to another door that led to yet another overly sterilized room. He reached into a closet that was nearby and pulled out a suit. “Here, you’ll want to put this on.” Handing her the rubber like suit, Alfred left the room for her to change.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alicia was at the machine, checking guages and straps. She turned as Alfred came up by her, “Think she really believes us?”
“We can only hope.”
The Captain stood off to the side, fighting off his own thoughts. He closed them for a few brief seconds. Orders were orders were orders. But then why for once in his life did he question? He coughed to hide the small frown of worry starting to creep up the side of his face and then shifted slightly on his feet.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Haylee changed quickly and slipped silently out of the door. She walked up behind Capt’n Gerrald and cleared her throat, getting a slight twitch of surprise from him in return. She smiled slightly, it was not often when she could get a response of that sort from him.
He turned and looked at her, a slight smile on his face as well, “What are you looking at?”
The woman shook her head, “Nothing sir.”
“That’s what I thought.” He gave her a wink after that and then jerked his head in Alicia and Alfred’s direction, “Their ready when you are, I believe.” A hint of strain in his throat coming through.
Haylee nodded and then walked across the curved floor to where the scientists stood. Alicia was finishing the check on a clip and then turned towards her, her face completely serious. “You understand that this is only a preliminary test? Once we know you’ve survived to the otherside we will bring you back before continuing.”
“Yes I do.”
“Alright, then climb in.”
Carefully, Haylee pulled herself up onto the seat. The leather smelled new and it stuck to her suit, making it hard for her to get comfortable. Alfred and Alicia seemed impatient as they started yanking on cords and strapping her in. She closed her eyes and sighed as they secured a sensor that traced the upper left of her eye.
The two scientists stepped away, sliding off to the right wall that had a bunch of control panels. Alicia flicked a button, and the upper half of the metal contraption slid down to form a complete sphere around the seated subject.
Haylee’s eyes widened a bit as the seat lurched forward, as if it repelled gravity and wanted nothing more than to float in the middle. The light in the room dimmed and neon green panels glowed more brightly. She looked up briefly, the captain’s eyes reflecting the light as the outside sphere began to twist and turn.
The rotating sections of the sphere spun faster. They flashed every once in a while as they began to heat up. Haylee gripped her hands into fists, attempting to keep control of her bowels as the anti-gravity started to make her sick.
The floor opened up underneath the sphere and a blue liquid began to be pulled up, forming around the outside surface like a skin to a skeleton. The power at omni corp seemed to flicker as the outsiders watched on.
Alicia clutched her notepad, smiling gleefully. Alfred had an excited look as well… as if this were the first time he’d ever seen this device in use.
Suddenly, the power cut out completely, the room tossed into a sea of blackness. Captain Gerrald looked around startled. Was this suppose to happen?
Emergency lights began to flicker on, filling the room with a dull blue glow. Silence filled the room as all looked towards the center of the floor.
The sphere had stopped moving, the pieces audibly cooling. Alicia approached it carefully, controlling the enthusiasm in her movements. “Did it work? Did it work?” came Alfred’s voice as he bounced around on two feet by her left elbow.
“Hold on a sec…”
Capt’n Gerrald stayed where he was, holding his breath.
“Well… she’s no longer in there and I see no remaining pieces that resemble human parts.”
Alfred clapped his hands together, “It worked! IT WORKED!”
Gerrald took his cue then and approached the two excited ones, “Now its time to bring her back right? Bring her back from where she’s gone.”
The two seemed to freeze where they were at, time slowing down as well. The captain blinked, “You said you could bring her back. So bring her back now since you know it works.”
“Ummm well, sir…” Alfred started. Alicia lifted a hand and smacked him in the chest to quiet him down. “I said we could bring her back. We just have to finish the how and when part up.”
The captain blinked.
