Escape from the Laboratory
It takes just a few minutes to crack the manacles holding me up, though by that time the cold around my wrists is getting unbearable. I wriggle my arms desperately, hoping that the plastic has become brittle enough to break. It does. The weight of my body shifts, and I land on my feet. Instantly, the pain bites into my ankles, travelling up my calves like an electric shock. I fall onto the floor face first. It is an undignified freedom, but a freedom of a sort nonetheless.
Gritting my teeth, I manoeuvre myself into a sitting position with some difficulty. The first thing I look at are my legs. The Gursu's tendons had been sliced with one cut, true enough. The edges of the injury are neat, encrusted in dried blood. It is not a very deep wound, but I won't be hopping and skipping any time soon. Besides the bruises and minor cuts I had received at the hands of those creatures, I was otherwise unharmed. It looks like Julius had taken out whatever aggression pent up within him on Keiko instead. The fine red lines criss-crossing her torso look as though they have been drawn on her white skin with a pen. I call her quietly.
“Fujisawa.”
Her lips part slightly and she stirs. She looks unfocused and groggy. As her eyes fix upon me they turn teary.
“Senya,” she whispers. “Save me.”
“Sure, but I'd like some answers now that you're awake.” I reply cheerfully.
“I don't know anything. Please, get me down quickly before he returns! I didn't want to lead you into a trap... he forced me to do it!” cries Keiko in a panic, attempting to defend herself. Well, that isn't really going to convince me.
“Why did you use Julius's name when inviting me to the roof? That wasn't in the script, was it?”
She pauses, uncertain. “I... I was just trying to warn you. If you heard his name-”
“That name wouldn't have mattered to me if I knew absolutely nothing of monsters, or his involvement in it. On the other hand, it would absolutely pique my interest should I know of his connection to this case.”
“Yes, that's it! You knew, right? I mean, you'd have known he was dangerous. I was telling you he was controlling me.” There is a slightly desperate smile on her face now.
“I didn't go investigating this case with you last week. I'm not sure whether to be sorry about that, but that raises another question. Why do you think I know – or am interested about this case in the first place?”
“I... well, I just thought you'd know something. You were hanging around the Dunamis girl.”
“You know what she is, then?” I say quietly, and her expression changes. Her face freezes and her eyes narrow.
“Hoshikawa,” she says coldly. “Don't play games with me.”
“I'm afraid you're the one who's been playing. I told you from the start... I want some answers.” It looks like her jig was up. “Why did you betray me to Julius?”
She laughs softly. “I didn't. It wasn't in my plan to get captured by that prick in the first place, so I had to improvise. I wanted to be sure of how much you knew of this, since you seem to be fast friends with that hunter and the Shinar princess.”
“Why?”
She shakes her head. “Sentimentality, perhaps? You were my friend after all. I hoped that you wouldn't be involved in this, but as it turns out...”
“If I didn't know anything about this I would have been unprepared and Julius would have put a worm down my throat for whatever he's planning.”
“It wouldn't have killed you,” says Keiko nonchalantly. “You would have recovered. Eventually. As I said, I had to improvise.”
“Putting me in danger is how you treat a friend?” I ask in disbelief.
“If you were normal, I was hoping it'd scare you away from all this, for your own good.”
I can tell that she truly believes that she means me well, but her evaluation of the risks and benefits don't match up with my own. Whether that is because we hold to different principles I do not know.
“As you now know, I am clearly not normal. What then?” I reply.
To my surprise, her expression softens. “I did not ever expect it would be you, but it is. What irony... I wasn't even sent here to search for you. The one I serve will have to know about this.”
“You're being unhelpfully cryptic. Explain.”
“We have no time. I will tell you everything if you free me. I will help you escape.”
“I can't trust you if you don't explain it to me, Fujisawa.”
“All I can say is that I will not harm you and neither will my mistress. She has been looking for you all this while. I'll tell you everything when we leave. Now, please.”
I sigh. She seems to be telling the truth about this. Hoping that I'm making the right decision, I send out my tendrils, slowly moving them into position around her manacles. I don't want to accidentally freeze her hands. She looks at the black, sinuous things approvingly. Keiko's manacles break and she lands on the floor gracefully, a far cry from my own faceplant. She bends over me, trying to lift me up and at the same time affording me a pretty good look. I blush and turn away nervously.
“Your... clothes.” I cough.
“Hm? Oh. What about it?” It seems like she isn't concerned about nudity at all. Then, the realization appears to dawn slowly on her face. “Right, I'm supposed to be blushing furiously and squeaking about this. I don't think we have the time for that, but if you're concerned...” She walks about the room, looking for something. When she returns, she has a piece of white cloth wrapped about herself.
“What about me?” I ask.
“What about you?” She eyes me with a slight smirk. “Don't worry about it, I don't mind the view. There's nothing else you can use in here anyway.”
Well, nothing I can do about it. Time to begin my escape.
***
With Keiko's help, I manage to get myself to the computer. She moves away to stand guard near the door while I work – by her stance I can tell that she is trained, though she seems merely human. Julius's laptop is secured better than Relius's was, but it still isn't enough to keep me out. It isn't his own personal computer; it isn't connected to any networks either. Within are mainly records of his experimentations and creations interspersed with ramblings about how Kyrie isn't paying him any attention. I skim through those; the method for creating the monsters is interesting, involving the use of extremely advanced biotechnology. I'm not aware of any laboratory in the world working on such things, and there are many parts that even I struggle to comprehend. Some of the genes involved appear to be drawn from particular alleles found primarily in the Higashi, while others can not possibly belong to any living animal on this planet. Were they synthetic in origin?
Still, it's not the time to get all interested in this. Escaping is more important. I look through the computer again. Mentions of the Apostles of the Golden Womb are frequent; they appear to be the source of all this technology – none of it willingly given. Julius has stolen the equipment from the Apostles somehow. Delving further, I find a map of the building I am in, and a manifesto of a storage facility somewhere in the town. Julius has been creating these things for close to a year. There are already fifty of these creatures; it takes him nearly a week to make one. I also find records of field tests of their control systems – I must have walked right into one on my first night here. The last thing of interest I manage to find is a memo to make sure their release is orderly. I check the date of their release; it is the same date that Kyrie's father visits. Is it just a simple assassination attempt after all?
It looks like that is all I can do with the computer. Before I log off, I look at the map and memorize it. We are currently underground beneath a small, abandoned science building in one of the more remote areas of the Academy. The facility itself is relatively large and marked with danger points for Julius to remind himself where he had set the more lethal traps. There is nothing else in the room – my personal effects are not here. They could be somewhere else in the facility, but now that I have the route to the exit in my head I don't want to waste a second here any longer if I can help it.
“I'm done here.” I call out.
She nods and replies, “The door's not locked. Let me check the corridors first.” Standing warily, she pushes at the door. It swings open with no resistance. Keiko steps out to look around.
She leaps back in barely a second later.
A monster follows her in, a fish-headed type similar to the first one to attack me. It attempts to grab her with its long, double-jointed arms, but Keiko ducks under its grasp. There is a flash of metal and she swings upwards, catching the monster in its fish jaw with a knife – where had she gotten it?
Her attacks are swift and brutal, with little finesse involved. The knife cuts through the air in the shortest path to its target, sinking repeatedly into the monster until it slumps lifelessly. Keiko shoves it aside, panting slightly. She tightens the cloth around her and looks at me. “We better hurry. Julius will realize one of his familiars is dead.”
***
We made our way about the facility, following the route I had memorized. Our progress was slow and we took the long way around because of the many traps, but the corridors were deserted. Luckily for us, Julius only had one creature guarding the door – he must be saving the bulk of them to execute the plan. We reached the ladder leading upwards an hour and fifty six seconds after we had left the room. Keiko somehow managed to push me up with some effort.
At least, that is what I thought.
Seven of the monsters stood between us and the exit, standing still in the middle of a dusty concrete room where the ladder had led us. Judging from the abandoned furniture, this had been an office of some sort.
Keiko steps to the front, twirling the knife in her hand. She says nothing and sprints towards the monsters. I slump to the ground, unable to stay upright. Stretching out my hands, I focus. Even though I can't get into the fight, I should be able to help out. My breathing calms down and my mind turns cold. Even in the dark building, I can see every detail of the fight clearly and hear every movement. I have no choice; with my mobility limited, I need to do this in order to have any success at controlling the tendrils finely enough to be useful. I begin counting down my time mentally.
She darts between two of the creatures, her knife slicing into their bellies. These creatures have tough hides; the cuts she makes are shallow, but she has no time to put strength into her attacks. Already another monster is attempting to blind-side her, but I have Keiko covered. My tendrils swarm out, snaking in between the wrecked furniture littering the room. They ensnare the creature – familiars, I believe Keiko called them. Keiko pounces upon it and delivers a savage two-handed thrust to its throat.
Without pausing, I discard the crumbling tendrils and send more out. The familiars had turned their attention to me; even with my increased control over the tendrils, once they notice me hitting them is no easy feat. Two of the familiars bound towards me, their fanged mouths open wide with bloodlust, the eyeball of the worm within writhing violently. They leap from side to side, deftly avoiding my attacks. Keiko runs in behind them and draws her knife across their backs. With a howl, they turn as one upon her.
That's just the chance I need. I had sent out my tendrils and weaved their movements together into a pattern, holding it with my concentration as long as I could. I pull them back, the pattern complete, and the tendrils rise in a neat web. It closes on the two monsters. They begin to shudder and scream as I drain the warmth from them.
I hear a scream and a crash. In her attempt to distract the familiars from me, Keiko had let another get the jump on her. I curse at myself – wasn't I supposed to be watching her back? All four of the remaining creatures are going after her. I hurry and focus my thoughts. I need both range and power here. Calling upon all of my reserves, countless tendrils shoot out and twine into a long, sharp whip that lashes at her assailants – the first is cut down, the second dodges, and the third breaks my whip. This familiar is unlike the others, covered from head to toe with what looks like chitin. There is a chittering noise, as if it is laughing at me. My whip had cracked and crumbled while barely denting its armour. Though I have gotten their attention, it is no use – I have nothing that can pierce something that hard. Keiko struggles to get up, but the creature pins her to the ground with a giant claw.
I rack my brain, seeking to find something else I can do.
There is one last method I can try.
I remember what Shulgi told me.
The cold pools in my eyes as I concentrate. The world is still. I do not even hear my own breathing.
A burst of rainbow fills my vision, and as it fades away, the world that I see has changed yet again.
Faint, ice-blue specks float across my eyes, forming and reforming on every surface I can see. I stare, attempting to make sense of them. As I do so, glaring desperately at the armored familiar, the specks resolve fluidly into lines that zig-zagged across the creature. If these were flaws, as he said...
The tendrils form again, spiralling about my fingers. I lift my hand, willing them to seek their target. In this cold world that I see, the tendrils move glacially, as if pushing its way through molasses. The lines are extremely fine and hard for me to perceive – if my concentration wavers even for a second, they begin to dissolve back into free floating specks. The tips of the tendrils reaches the lines and pass through them with no resistance, as if the shell is not there in the first place.
I trace five lines simultaneously, along each of the creatures... fifteen in total
The creatures split into pieces along the lines, sliding apart slowly.
My eyes burn with the cold, and I am unable to hold on to my focus.
The normal world returns all at once, my senses dulling in an instant. My vision turns hazy. It hasn't even been eight minutes. My hand falls limply; I'm all out of strength. I close my stinging eyes and welcome the embrace of unconsciousness.
***
When I awake, the first thing I see is the moon, shining brightly in the sky. The ring of solar panels around the world twinkle gently in the night.
“So, you're awake. I'm sure you want answers, Senya.”
Keiko stands over me, dressed in her school uniform. Judging from the breeze and the feel of the grass on my back, I am still naked. She kneels besides me.
“Thanks for the save. I have no doubts about who you are now.”
“Your saviour?”
“No, you're not, but she will definitely want to meet you.”
I consider the wording of her statement. “She... you are referring to your saviour?”
“Clever boy.” grins Keiko mischievously. It looks like she had her 'normal' personality back. When she continues speaking, though, her tone is worshipful. “Our saviour. Our messiah, both mine and yours.”
“You're with the cult.”
“Yes. I belong to the Apostles of Hiranyagarbha. My father happens to be one of the high priests.”
“Is this where you drag me into the cult?”
She shakes her head sadly. “No. If you are ever found, she wants you to meet her of your own free will. She will not compel you.”
“Why would she want to see me?”
“Because you are alike to her. She told me once before that she is searching for the person who has been blessed with the Devi's gift without being an Apostle. That would be her brother.”
“Wait, I do have a sister, but I don't think she's involved in any cults.”
“Yeah, I remember seeing her back when we were classmates, and that is not the person I am speaking of. I don't know anything about what truly happened, but that is what my mistress told me, and I treat her words as gospel.” She closes her eyes and mutters a small chant.
“If you want to meet her, I can bring you to her. I'm sure she can answer every question you have. However, that means abandoning your life here, at least for now... but I'm sure you'll be happy with us. That is where you belong.”
Her hand moves over mine, patting it. I keep my eyes on the moon, pondering this sudden turn of events.
“What happens to this case involving Relius?”
“I've found out enough to make a report. The Second Hierarchs will decide what to do with him and his betrayal of us.” She sighs. “Honestly, I wasn't even supposed to be doing this. Father just figured it was a good chance to prove myself, since I was already studying here.”
“I suppose you won't mind if I let the ISC know about Relius's plans?” I ask.
“I don't think I can say no to that. It won't make a difference to us.” she replies.
“So, what if I don't go along with you?”
“As I said, there is no compulsion. I believe, however, one way or another you will meet her, even if not now. It is your destiny as siblings.” She pauses for a while. “But...”
“What is it?”
“Well,” she mutters awkwardly, “Could you keep my identity a secret at least? I know you're with that hunter and the princess – things could get ugly if they find out about me.”
“Wait, you can't be planning to go back to class after this-”
“Why wouldn't I? I'm still a student at the academy. Can you promise you won't tell?”
“I...”
“Oh, come on! We saved each other's lives, I'm sure you can do at least that much?”
***
A. There is no need for a promise. I go with her to the cult, where she claims my real sister is. If the answers are there, that is where I will go. I will leave the resolution of Relius's plot to others; with the exposure of Julius's laboratory his plan should be in shambles already.
B. I promise to keep her identity a secret; I owe her that much. I'm staying right here, however. The matter with Relius isn't truly solved yet and I'm seeing it out to the end. I don't really want to leave everything I have here and go to the cult either.
C. I lie about keeping her identity a secret. I have no love for the cult, and their presence here is a danger. If I can drive Keiko away from the Academy, all the better for me.
