Chapter 65: Psions, Prisoners, Patients
The numbered children made it past the forest, and upon running into a tall fence, they had the red-headed girl move them across. They just disappeared from one side and appeared on the other. No doubt about it, that was teleportation. The red-headed girl had the power of teleportation and most likely, their escape would not have been possible without her.
Once passed the fence, the children arrived at a road, apparently a part of a highway from the looks of how it stretched on as far as the eyes could see. By the roadside, the three children stood, the blond boy and the red-headed girl looked to be at a lost. After a while, the red-headed girl, seemingly having waited long enough, decided to cross, only to be stopped by Zero.
"Wait."
Holding onto the red-headed girl's shoulder, Zero watched the road, her eyes gazing toward her left. Then, her hand shifted from the red-headed girl's shoulder to her head.
"Six, get ready."
"O-okay..."
"Don't be nervous, I'll show you the path."
Somehow, I began to understand what Zero meant. She had been transmitting information directly into the red-headed girl's head. I suppose it's similar to how the Keepers communicate with the others. And the red-headed girl, while able to teleport, she appeared to have only limited ability to calculate the 'path', as they referred to it.
"Here comes."
The blond boy took notice as a pair of light approached a high speed, and as the sound of an engine could be heard, the red-headed girl took a big gulp down her throat.
The vehicle was a van, a white van. As it passed them, the numbered children disappeared, and in a moment, my scenery changed. The children were then in the van, all three on their bottoms, apparently having collided with the back doors of the van, flattening the boxes between them and the doors.
"Damn it, Six, you forgot to account for the vectors!"
"S-s-shut up! I never tried getting onto something so fast before!"
As they argued, I took a look at the driver seat, worrying that the driver had heard the ruckus, or rather, he must have heard it. I was worrying as to what the children planned to do about it.
However, when I looked, the driver drove on, apparently noticing nothing. It was odd, very odd. The crash was pretty loud after all. Even if he had the radio on, he would have heard it without a doubt, yet, he didn't.
"What's going on?"
"Cognitive disruption. In other words, I messed with his ability to sense the thing around him, specifically, us and any noise we might make."
Zero had a mischievous smile as she explained it all, as if she was- no, she was most definitely boasting.
"That's amazing."
I thought I'd humor her, but instead, she pouted.
"Don't say things you don't mean."
"I do think it's amazing, but after everything I've seen, I'm too overwhelmed to be excited."
"Are you now? I thought you were taking it all in strides."
"As if. It's all crazy. Everything is crazy, on this side, on that side as well, nothing makes any sense."
"Would you rather it continues on to make no sense? Or would you like to make sense of it all?"
"The answer is obvious, isn't it?"
"I wonder."
I hadn't noticed it till that point, but her smile as slowly fading, turning into something that was somewhat bitter.
"I wished I never knew anything, I did. But, now that you're here, no, not 'here' I suppose, but knowing that you will be here, maybe there is meaning to it."
"What are you even saying?"
I wasn't the one who asked that question, though I was certainly thinking it. The one who asked was the blond boy.
"Oh, I was just talking to Mr. Phantom."
Hearing Zero's response, the boy stared into the space where Zero was staring into, where I was floating about.
"You didn't sound very happy."
"I'm just nervous, that's all. Aren't you? It's your first time outside right?"
"I'll be fine."
"You say that, but you've been tense all day haven't you?"
"I know right, he's been acting weird all day. It's a surprise Seven didn't figure us out and came to stop us."
The red-headed girl butted in, earning the blond boy's ire.
"You've been acting spooked all day as well. In fact, everyone was saying how quiet you were and how strange that was. It's thanks to you that I was so nervous."
"Hey, don't you try and pin the blame on me!"
"I was just telling it as it is."
"Alright, alright, settle down. If you both keep this up, we're going right back to the facility."
With Zero saying that, the two stopped immediately. The blond boy especially was shaken by what she said.
"But Zero, you-"
"Don't but me, I rather head back than have you two fighting like this."
The boy furrowed his brows, his eyes cast downwards before slightly turning towards the red-headed girl.
"I... I'm sorry, Six."
The red-headed girl, perhaps swept up by the flow of events, became meek as well.
"Y-yeah, I'm sorry too."
The rest of the ride was quiet, especially so when you consider that these were children and children being noisy on a ride are as common as they are cars on the road. It appeared that Zero knew how to handle them, making it seemed as though she's several years older than they were rather than children of the same age, and with the way I've seen her age, and by that I mean the lack of thereof, she must have been older, far, far older.
***
When the van stopped, the driver came and opened the back doors, ready to unload the boxed goods he was delivering. Upon seeing the flattened boxes, he shouted with anger and got all red in the face. However, even though they should be well within his line of sight, he did not see the numbered children slipped out through the side door. This must be Zero's doing as well, the thing she called cognitive disruption.
Where the van stopped appeared to be in the middle of a bustling street, with people walking to and fro somewhere. Even so, the children stood out, their clothes, completely white from top to bottom stuck out in the dazzling night street, or at least, they should have. However, no one even batted an eye at them, as if they couldn't see them, just like the driver.
"Zero, where to now?"
While the blond boy asked her, Zero was staring at a map by a bus stop, her index finger upon her chin as she scanned it.
"This way, the station's this way."
Zero ran on ahead and the other two followed her, till they eventually arrived at what appeared to be a railway station not too far away. Zero strode in without a sign of hesitation. The blond boy, however, was slightly reserved, his hand reached out to Zero as if telling her to wait, but realizing that she was out of reach, he quickly followed, his eyes wandering from Zero to the flood of people passing by and back to her. He was cautious and more than a little nervous. Like the blond boy, the red-headed girl, followed along as well, her eyes on Zero and the blond boy at all times. Her brows were furrowed, looking like she's just as nervous and the boy. Not wanting to be left behind by the other two, she stuck close and continued moving with them.
As they passed the toll gates of the station by vaulting over them, the guard watching from the nearby booth had a reaction. Had he noticed them? I wondered that as I watched him. However, rather than the children, he was looking at his monitor, smacking it a few times with his hand. Was it broken? I turned towards Zero, who was looking back with a cheeky grin on her face. Probably, she had done something. Unlike people, security cameras had no cognition after all. They only record what was there. Zero had probably done something else to prevent being captured on camera.
Without being noticed at all, the numbered children snuck onto a train. The train was crowded, but they somehow managed to find seats. It must have been supernatural, not only because they found seats during an hour which looked to be rather busy with people trying to get home, but also because no one, not a single person, noticed them, and no one tried to sit where they were seated.
The train ran smoothly over the rails as the dazzling nightly cityscape passed us by. However, I noticed that there was one spot in the city that had no lights, where it was but an empty void of darkness. Well, I say that, but there was surely something there, it was just too dark for me to see.
"That's the 'Crater'. At least, that's what we call it."
While I was sure Zero was just giving the explanation for me, as she had been doing for a while since, I turn to notice that the blond boy and red-headed girl as well, were staring towards the dark area.
"What happened there? Wait, don't tell me. It is a, what's it called, meteorite? I heard about them during the lesson. It's like a shooting star, right?"
The red-headed girl was getting rather excited at the idea of a meteorite. I wondered then if she liked such a thing or that the experience of being outside of the first time had pumped her up. However, looking at the size of the Crater, from the distance, I eyeballed at least the destruction of about three to five city blocks. It wasn't small and I don't think it would have been a meteorite, at least, not one of regular size.
"Six, there's no way a meteorite could do so much damage. They would done something to stop it if it could. This was something more sudden. Like a bomb, maybe."
The blond boy wasn't as excited as the red-headed girl, however, he was obviously less tense than before. It looked like, in his own way, he was enjoying this as well.
"You're both only half right. It wasn't a meteorite, but it was from outside the atmosphere. All the way from the moon. The Lunarians brought it here over eighty years ago. Oh, that's what the moon colonists called themselves by the way."
"We know that already, we learned it during our lesson. But, this is the first time I've heard about the Crater and them bringing anything down here."
The blond apparently didn't like being talked down to. His pride was rather high? No, now that I think about it, maybe he just didn't want to be treated like a child by Zero. Though that's what he was.
"I know you did. But, Mr. Phantom here had no idea."
"Whoa, Mr. Phantom must be pretty dumb, huh?"
Contrasting the blond boy, the red-headed girl was absolutely a child, getting all full of herself just because... Anyways, about the Crater...
"What they brought down here was something old, something they found on the moon many years ago. They said that it was the remnant of a very old god from time so long ago no records exist, or rather, it was said that all records were wiped out."
"Why'd they do that? Wiping out the records?"
The blond boy raised a question I myself was going to ask.
"Probably because it was something that shouldn't exist, after all, it gave birth to something like me."
"Hey, don't say that. We... we want you here, with us. I don't want you to not exist."
The red-headed girl wasn't exactly following the conversation, but hearing what Zero said at the end, she must have felt that she had to chime in.
"That's very nice of you, Six."
Zero gave a smile, it was bitter and dry, and though she had the appearance of a child, for that moment, she looked very old.
"So, what do you mean that it gave birth to you? Are you a god too?"
"Oh, that was just a figure of speech. I didn't literally mean that it gave birth to me. Besides, they only called it a god. No one for sure knew what it was, only that it was powerful, beyond even the Lunarian's expectation in fact. It was a dangerous thing they did, but apparently, they didn't care. They were desperate, or so I was told, from fighting a long war that they were slowly and steadily losing. The resources on the moon just weren't plentiful enough when compared to the rest of the planet it orbits. The one thing they had was a piece of the old god. So they used it, hoping the turn the tide..."
"Then, what happened?"
The red-headed girl, while somewhat lost in the beginning was getting riled up from the story, perhaps due to the pause Zero made at the end, creating a sense of suspense. It seemed like she knew how to handle them, or at least, the red-headed girl.
"They disappeared, all of the Lunarians that landed there, into that void which no light could reach."
I turned once more to look at the Crater. I had initially thought that the area was just dark, but it turns out, it really was a void.
"So, what is it, the Crater, or the void? I mean, how did it happen?"
I was the one who asked that question, but somehow, I knew what she would say.
"I don't know."
Zero shrugged upon giving that half-hearted response. Well, she didn't even know how her strange powers worked. What she did know she probably heard from the researchers. From what I know of them through Zero, they too were in the midst of trying to figure everything out.
"And how did 'that' give birth to you? What's that supposed to mean?"
The blond boy didn't say anything about her answering "I don't know" without context. He had probably figured that she was talking to me, A.K.A. Mr. Phantom, by that point.
"When the Lunarians unleash the piece old god, it scattered, spreading throughout the air, before creating the void. From what the researchers back in the facility had figured out, they scattered fragments of that piece of the old god had apparently invaded, or rather, infected, the lifeforms within the proximity. For a while, nothing happened. However, beneath the surface, the fragments were doing something to their hosts, changing them at the genetic level. Something about the D.N.A. maybe?"
"You're not sure?"
"Not even the researchers are sure, and I've only gone to school till the fifth grade, you realize."
"Oh right... They didn't give you lessons either, did they?"
"Well, what's the point, I was going to be stuck there forever anyways. Though, they do each me a few things when I chat with them."
"It won't be forever, right? They said they'll let us go and live normal lives once everything is peaceful."
"Yes, I suppose they did..."
Zero looked down, probably realizing that it was impossible. I'm not sure about the affairs of Zero's world, but at the very least, she didn't think her world would achieve peace in their lifetime.
"Once we're free, let's go somewhere together again. Not just us three, but everyone else."
Zero smiled, or rather, she forced a smile for the blond boy.
"Thank you, Nine... I'll look forward to that."
"I want to go to the big elevator!"
The red-headed girl, having little grasp on the mood, chimed in excitedly.
"The big elevator, what are you talking about?"
The blond boy scratched his head, confused.
"You know, the one that goes all the way up into space."
"Oh, you meant the orbital elevator?"
"Yeah, that's the one!"
I look towards Zero, seeking answers. I mean, orbital elevator? I've only heard talks about it, but back in our world, it wasn't feasible yet. In response, she only jutted her chin towards the windows opposite to where the numbered children were seated.
Through those windows, I saw it, a megastructure beyond megastructures we know today, a dazzling pillar piercing up into the sky in the distance. How far was it? I couldn't say. It felt like it was large enough to muddle my sense of distance.
Taking that brief moment while we're getting all excited about that orbital elevator, Zero composed herself and began telling her story about the old god anew.
"At any rate, the fragments of the old god. Apparently, they were like nanomachines, made of materials they have never seen before, and they behaved like a virus, spreading from host to host and moved to alter their genetics. There was nothing any of the scientists and researchers in the world could do about it. After all, there are no vaccines for machines, or at least, it was believed that they were machine-like in nature. With our own level of technology, it just wasn't possible to deal with them. They called the hosts of the nanomachine-like fragments the 'First Generation'. After the first, came the 'Second Generation', their fragments behaved similarly to that of the first, though much like the First Generation, nothing out of place could be observed from them in comparison to normal humans. Then, there was the Third Generation. As if something had triggered within them, they began exhibiting unnatural abilities and were suspected to be the cause of various unexplainable phenomena. It was said that only a few of the Third Generations lived through childbirth and many were stillborn. Those that lived were eventually taken to facilities such as the one we're in upon discoveries of their capabilities. That's how I came to be."
Listening to the story, something didn't quite make sense for me, and while the two children were still trying to process the information, I decided to ask my question.
"But wait, if you're the Third Generation, why did they call you 'Patient Zero'?"
"Well, for someone to be referred to as Patient Zero, there needs to be at least some sort of epidemic, yes?"
"Yeah, I think that's how that works, but isn't the fragment of the old god an epidemic of sorts? Or does it not count since there's no visible effect from it."
"As far as those in the know were concerned, I think they considered it an epidemic, after all, even though nothing was observed on the surface, it was doing something to the hosts. They were right, unfortunately. However, this and that are different. I am a 'patient' of another disease, something only the Third Generation has and was then spread to the other. Something that was not of the old god's fragment, but what was born from it was a result."
Zero's eyes drifted towards the blond boy and then the red-headed girl, who was at that point lying upon Zero's lap. The two other children were listening, though not quite understanding what Zero was talking about. I too wasn't too sure about what Zero was saying, she was being intentionally vague. However, from what I saw, I could make a guess.
When I saw the children, or more accurately, the numbers printed on their clothes, I have taken the 'P' in front of the numbers to mean either 'Prisoner' or 'Patient'. Zero said it meant 'Psion', but, in a sense, they were 'patients' as well. However, Zero was taken to the facility at a very young age. These children, I'm sure, were far younger than she was. They certainly act as old as they looked for the most part. This meant that whatever Zero has as a Third Generation, it was spread after her quarantine, most likely intentionally, and as a result created more children who possess these supernatural powers, children like the blond boy and the red-headed girl.
Somehow, I couldn't imagine a very bright future for any of them.
***
End of Chapter 65
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