Blink awoke in tangle of sweaty sheets, Holly's calm voice calling her back from the brink of a scream. "Blink…what's wrong? Would you like a sededative?" Her psych profile hadn't made her seem prone to night terrors. Perhaps her blood gloucose levels were too low.
Panting, head tucked in her hands Blink slowly regained control but it took awhile to stop shaking. She couldn't remeber the dream. Part of her didn't want to. Raising her hand, she stared into the dull silver of her palm flexing the fingers. She thought she could hear the microservos whir and click. Impossible, they were composed of a near frictionless polymer. Her flesh and blood hand would make more noise.
Slipping out of bed she stretched, the fading sunlight washing over her body. She was a compact woman,athletic without being bulky, shapely but not overly voluptous. Her body would have suited a dancer or a gymnast. It suited her chosen path quite well. Daddy's genetech's had really done their best, she thought looking herself over in the full length mirror by the bed. Nice skin,long and lean with breasts high and firm but not monsters. Her father hated too-large breasts, said they made women look like cows. Made to order just like one of his dolls. Once or twice she'd considered getting enlargement just to piss him off but she'd gotten used to the look. "No…I'm fine Holly…just a bad dream…where is the meeting anyway?"
"Central meeting hall first level, the others are assembling in the lift." The computer's voice sounded intriuged. "DO you have dreams like that often? Perhaps due to repressed childhood trauma? Or memory alteration due to psychotic tendencies or possible extraterrestrial influence? I'd like to say I sympathize, but not having a subconscious really limits my ability to understand so perhaps saying I empathize is better."
"Be glad you can't be afraid, Holly. It sucks. As for the dreams, I never remember them, so it's cool, right?" She slips on a pair of long black gloves.
"No…not actually but then again a large percentage of people do not remember their dreams." Holly paused. "I wonder if I can be 'afraid'… there are subroutines for varuous negative programming responces in my makeup that are equivilant to some human emotion, but nothing has ever threatened my existence on a primal level before.
Blink dressed and headed for the lift,getting there just as the others arrived. They all looked thoughtful,perhaps the reality of things just settling in. Ellce was noticeably absent.
Von Schmiessen speaks up first. "I must appologize for my behaviour. I may appear to be anti-social but that is not my nature. I am simply trying to adjust to these major changes in my life. I was preparing to go for a jog on the beach after meeting. Anyone care to join me?"
"Sure. Might be just the thing." Blink replies.
"Maybe another day, there's just been too much to take in today." Warp answered as he went into the room.
Jogging? Me? I don't think so. Circe shook her head. "Not today, thanks. If they're not sticking the implants into us after the meeting I'm thinking of doing a bit of exploring." She ran her fingers through her hair, absently making sure there weren't any tangles. Wonder where Ellce is?
Von Schmiessen seems to be happy for a change. "Excellent. Meet me on the beach after the meeting."
The meeting room was off from the cental living room. It was spacious, one entire room opening onto a sea view. A circular table seemed to "grow" from the floor like a huge flat topped mushroom. It was cool and bright, the atmosphere light for what seemed like a serious place. "I had the window widened to provide more natural lightening", Holly volunteered. "Makes it more festive."
As they filed in another door irised open. Ivy stepped in followed by two others. One they recognized immediatly as Rock dressed in a black jumpsuit, his injured arm tucked in a medical cuff. Standing at his side was a smaller woman,slim and lithe her ice blue eyes sweeping the room and the assembled like predator sizing up a new locale,relaxed but ready for action. Cy, Circe thought. She was sleek where Rock was large but there was no denying the relationship between them…the matching hair and eyes. Ivy smiled slightly, "Welcome…Allow me to introduce them to those who don't already know them. This is Cy and Rock… your new teammates."
So she's what all his fuss was about… Blink nods to both of them.
Looks like their both doing good. Man hope niether are mad about Rock's hand… Warp stayed silent but did nod at the two in recognition.
Circe nodded to them in welcome. Going to have to talk to them some time about the link they have. Wonder if it's just verbal or if sensory data can be included. That kind of link would make any team very effective.
Ivy showed the two seats. "As you know Rock and Cy were transported in cryo suspension…one for longer than the other." She smiled ever so slightly. "They have agreed to enter into the Project under Brazila law. The rest of the staff and Jennifer should be in momentarily… so please make yourselves comfortable and excuse me." With that she left the room.
Circe took a seat,leaning back. Letting her eyes slip closed she reached out with her perceptions but felt no active mental energies seemed to lie within her perceptions. Skimming over the mental ether she tried to find a familar thought pattern and got the vague impresssion of Jennifer's mind quite near by.
Von Schmiessen regards Rock with a cooly stare. "Perhaps you'll learn what it means to be a soldier."
Without even turning his head towards Von Schmiessen, Rock coldly replied, "Perhaps you will too." He held the chair for Cy to sit down in and took the seat beside her. He looked over at Warp and gave him a slight nod.
Maybe I should put eventually links to everyone so I can find them in an emergency. Warp looked around, after taking a seat and counted the number of chairs unaccounted for. Wonder who else is in on this party? There were five other seats.
A door opened admitting Jennifer and three others. Warp and Circe recognized Dr. Morsham immediately. The older woman seemed to be in much better spirits than before, not exactly smiling but the look of tension was gone. Her hair was done up in a loose ponytail, the faint traces of gray stark contrast to the dark brown.
Immediately beside her was a tall lanky blonde man, early 20's. His appearance was striking, a lab coat over torn t-shirt slashed jeans tucked into high leather boots. An array of chains and studs decorated the coat and boots. Several silver studs ran up his left ear and an ankh dangled from the right. his hair was buzzed short on the side but hung to his shoulders. Hawkish in the face he was handsome but stroking almost disturbing particularly his watery blue eyes. They seemed focused on something far away. Finally a redhead stepped in, conservatively dressed in an knee length white skirt and sweater under her lab coat. Long red hair framed an elvish face, her eyes hinted at some Asian ancestry, their slight incline adding to the fae look of her. Slight and suppled she moved with a light step and pleasant demeanor.
Engrid stepped forward. "I hope you've all settled in, for those of you that don't know me I am Engrid Morsham. I'll be acting as research head of the Project. This." she gestured to the redhead. "This is Dr Martins, biologist and physician." Martins waved slightly taking her seat. She looked at Rock and Cy curiously and finally Dr Lee, he will be working with the technical systems and Holly in particular." He nodded once, smiling ever so slightly.
Like it takes someone with no luggage or personal effects long to settle in. Warp thought before nodding to each person in turn.
Dr Martins is a redhead…yum! She's gorgeous! "Dr. Lee, I may have some questions for you later on, if your field is what I think it is." Blink looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Excellent, I wanted to inquire about your bionics…intriguing design," Lee replied.
Dr. Martins smiled at Blink, a set of adorable dimples appearing in her cheeks. Settling back in her seat she ran her tongue over her lips as she scrolled down the screen of her terminal.
I wonder what she knows… or if Holly told her I asked. I tend to hide my bionics… I wonder how much I have to?
Looking up from her pad, Martins met Blink's look and winked.
Are you psychic? Blink smiles just a little. It's been a while since someone flirted with me…I like it.
Jennifer's head was down as the introductions were made; she was apparently reading from a datapad, and occasionally pressed a key.
"He's my father." Holly spoke up. "Or creator in sense…I guess breeder is a more apt term as he supervised my development from the Skynet and Deliah series."
Lee chuckles. "That's all right…you can call me daddy."
"Interesting, Holly has a daddy…Your 'daughter and I were becoming friends, I think, Dr. Lee."
Lee turned his gaze on Blink, smiled a touch broader. "Wonderful…she needs more outside interests. A person as worldly as you should provide a wonderful source of information for her…do you prefer to be called Blink?"
"My given name I prefer to reserve for …intimate situations, Dr. Lee." She glances over at Dr. Martins, wondering if she can be seen through her glasses. "Yes, I'd have to say that I prefer Blink. Holly is wonderful, Dr. Lee. She needs to work on her humor a bit, but we're trying."
He nodded. "well considering my own escapes most people…its not surprising hers lacks something…though I have at least one fan." Engrid glanced down at her terminal, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. "Please just Lee is fine. The doctor is a title some group of academics gave me for being able to regurgitate facts at them well."
"If you don't mind my asking Blink…has Holly attempted to use slang with you?" Dr Lee asked looking at her over steepled fingers.
"As a matter of fact, we were working on that earlier. Her colloquialisms are quite good." Blink smiles.
"Wonderful… wonderful… her social/personal matrix is expanding nicely… or her inherent personality modules are corrupted." He shrugged. "If she starts using the automated systemry to hunt us down for sport anytime soon we'll know," he smiled.
How interesting, Circe thought. The more outrageous a scientist looks, often the better he is, for only the great ones can get away with dressing outside the norm. And Engrid certainly looks a lot happier. I wonder what, or who, pushes her pleasure buttons.
Engrid took her seat. "First and foremost I like to introduce the preliminary schedule for the next few days. Mostly its taken up be training exercises to get you used to functioning as unit and to learn the extent of your powers under actual use. Willow would like to have personal interviews with each of you before she returns to her Commune as well. The terminals in front of you have the basic schedule layout."
Jennifer set down her datapad, blanking its small screen, and began paging through the schedule. My, but it's a good thing Jesse's understanding about this… looks like I'll be busy here for a while.
She's leaving, Circe thought in a sudden, uncharacteristic panic. Oh, get a grip. You've lived for so long without her you can continue without her. She has a life to go back to, and people who need her. She tilted her head forward, her hair falling to veil her face as she pressed a button on the terminal in front of her to see how they had started to organize her life. The schedule looked pretty rigorous for the next couple of days but slowed some after that. Circe looked over the schedule to find out when the operation for the implants were scheduled. It was to take place just after this meeting.
Blink looks down at the terminal, examining it for a jack. "Dr. Morsham? Do you have this info on datachits? That way, I can have a running record of things all the time."
"Holly can place it on one as you like." she nodded.
Rock began tapping his fingers on the table, anxiously awaiting some answers. He briefly scanned the schedule and then gave a look over at Cy.
Warp looked over the schedule to see what the schedule included. While he was at the terminal he typed a request to Holly for the length of his sentence. 30 years. It seemed like an eternity.
"Also on the agenda for this meeting is the set up for the ops team as a whole. In short a chain of command. Experience and your past record indicate most of you are used to working alone or at best in small groups…with the notable exception of Von Schmiessen." Engrid said, after softly clearing her throat. The blush had faded entirely replaced by an entirely professional demeanor. "His training and experience in small unit coordination and tactics should lend itself well to a field commander position. unless there are any other suggestions?"
Circe shook her head silently. She knew where her strengths lay, and it wasn't leading a team. Group whip, she thought with a smile, giving the group a little courage and enthusiasm when needed.
"So much for our jog, Mr. Von Schmiessen. Or should I say commander?" Blink smiles. "Rain check?"
"There will be other opportunities. Not to worry." Von Schmiessen's intensity seems to have gone up a few levels.
"So what kind of ops are we expected to go on?" Warp asked going over in his head everyone's specialties as he understood them to be. Assassins, spies and thieves… oh my…
"There should be variety…as time passes your opportunities for covert actions will diminish so we expect at this time mainly search and retrieval, infiltration and assault style operations." Engrid placed down her data pad and gestured to Dr. Martins. "I'd like to give the floor so to speak to Dr. Martins now."
Blink lowers her glasses to make eye contact with Dr. Martins. Dr. Martins… floor… Hmmmm… The sight of her cybernetic eye only seems to intrigue the redhead more.
Someone I don't have to hide from…not sure I know how to handle that. I always wear something to cover these things…she doesn't seem to care.
Von Schmiessen nods his head in agreement. "Search and infiltration were my 'speciality', should we say."
"Mine too, more or less." Blink says.
The red nodded to everyone smiling then spoke. Her voice was surprisingly husky, very smooth and soothing. "I would like to help make this as positive an experience for each of you as I can. please…don't laugh just yet. I know this is sentence but you've each entered into this willingly and will be helping both Solcal and this project. This is what I would like to do for you." She took out a data pad and held it in one slim hand looking around the room. "The Metahuman Mutagenic Virus has been one of the most mysterious, uncontrollable and wide spread 'plagues' to ever effect man kind. Quite literally every living thing like carries it in their DNA sequence and will from now on…you are the future." She paused to let that sink in. "What I can offer is help in understanding you and your abilities. Learning their extent and nature and how to control them better can only help you and maybe countless others like you. At the risk of sounding arrogant, Dr. Morsham and I are among the top researchers in the fields of biology and mechanical sciences as applied to metahuman ability and we are at your service. This opportunity is unprecedented… and… and I am starting to repeat myself so I'll shut up now." Taking a deep breath she sat back down with grin, looking from Warp to Blink.
Blink never breaks eye contact. Seems we're providing all kinds of opportunities. The doctor meets her gaze, smile growing a touch more coy. Again she wets her lips then looking back down at the data pad.
I can hardly wait to be alone with you, doc. I'm curious what you might have to say…
Wonder why she purposely looked at Blink and myself? Or is it because the two of allegedly do things to the physical laws that no one had ever seen before? Warp thought to himself. Warp glanced over at Circe, Wonder how long she'll be mad at me?
We are the future, are we? Circe's eyes moved to Dr. Martin and she began to watch her, curious as to what motivated the woman. She seemed eager, even excited and quite open in her beliefs, surprisingly enough. Ivy put it rather succinctly that the world most certainly did not need more of us. Are you so certain you want us to be the heralds of your future?
Examining the console in front of him, Rock began typing a request for information for whatever records were available on Cy and himself. There was a list of some of there operations not a lot not even a sentence listed.
Rock looks over at Cy again, opening up their connection. I don't like this. See if you can find out some more on what they have on us.
"Thank you Dr Martins." Engrid nodded to her companion then turned to address the group once more. "As far as the position for second goes…I would like to put fourth Circe as a suggestion. Her empathic abilities and mental skills would lend a great benefit to the group overall."
"Can you be a bit more specific? I'd like to understand that a bit more." Blink looks over to Circe. "Could you take over if something happened? I'm not sure I could."
Circe barely managed to keep her head from jerking to look at Engrid in surprise. Second in command usually does the dirty work, keeping the group from killing each other, or the leader. She shifted her gaze to Engrid and watched her for a moment. Then she nodded. "If no one has any objections."
Engrid looked between the two women. "Circe's mental talents are based on emotion. She could feel the group dynamic and interrelationships as well provide a source of potential battlefield intelligence quickly. In other metahuman operation, a mentalist acting ss second and coordinator lends itself well to team efficiency."
"My talents involve more than just emotion sensing and manipulation, but in effect what Engrid says is true. I am not a front-line combatant, more of a sniper." A faint smile crossed Circe's lips. "Being able to keep the team together and focused, and disrupt the opposition, can be a very valuable asset." She cast her eyes down to look at her terminal. Though how to coordinate the team except through radio headsets is beyond me. Or will the implants work…
She quickly typed in a question to Holly, asking if for more info on the communication capabilities of the implants, specifically between team members, and how secure those communications would be. The implants provided no communications nut they would be issued portable secure comm units for active duty.
Hmmm wonder will she always be mad or is it a lost cause. Warp sat there listening, and typed an inquiry to Holly if there were ways to reduce the sentence and if they were allowed to order stuff from the main land like clothes in a particular style or furnishings that were not provided. She replied that import space was limited but what did he want? and did he think that penis size mattered in terms of sexual relationships?
Warp typed while listening to the conversation the others were having. Well I like listening to the retro music and videos from the 1980-2000. As far as penis size I have no reference on that…. :/ Why are you asking Holly? Also is there anyway to get the sentence reduced? Wonder why she was asking such an odd question?
Holly felt that since he was so much above average that he might have some reference point. Music and other Audio Visual entertainment were freely available thought the Net Link.
"And finally…" A sharp beeping cut Engrid off. "I am sorry to interrupt but…there's trouble." Holly said. "There is a distress signal coming in from an ocean going vessel 23 Km off the island coastline."