Ouroboros Episode One

  Chapter 13

  Cadet Nida Harper

  Alicia was still being nice to her, or at least a certain kind of nice.

  In Alicia's own brusque way, she was caring for Nida, and it was a welcome change.

  "Now you better not fall over or get into any kind of trouble today, young lady," Alicia said as she pushed a slice of toast over the counter toward Nida.

  "Yes, mom," Nida grabbed up the toast and took a bite.

  "Excuse me? What? You think I'm old enough to be your mother?" Alicia pretended to be mortified and clutched her skin, apparently looking for wrinkles.

  Nida laughed. "So are you going to check up on me today? Sneak into my classes just to see I'm not lying dead under the seat?"

  Alicia didn't laugh. In fact, her expression became stony. "Now, that isn't a funny joke. And to answer your question, no, I'm not going to check up on you. Carson Blake is," she pointed out with a wink.

  Nida paused, halfway through a bite. "Sorry?" she mumbled. "I thought I told him to leave me alone?"

  "No," Alicia pointed a finger at her, "you told him he could leave you alone. You told him he didn't have a duty to look after you anymore. And he's clearly decided to ignore you," she pointed out gleefully.

  Nida didn't know what to say.

  She suddenly felt angry.

  Very angry.

  She didn't need someone like Blake checking up on her, because every time he popped his head around a door to see if she was fine, he would be wasting his time.

  He had much more important things to do.

  "Oh, don't look like that," Alicia snapped. "And you were rude to him last night. You should have seen the puppy dog eyes he gave your door when you left him without a goodbye."

  Nida stiffened, giving up on the toast and returning it to the counter. "No, he didn't," she said, sounding exactly like a child denying the obvious.

  "Ha, yeah he did. You didn't see it, but I was there. I know what I saw, and I can remember just how disappointed everybody's favorite lieutenant appeared when you rudely dismissed him. He saved your life, remember?" Alicia pointed out needlessly.

  "Yes, I remember. It only happened two days ago. But the point is I don't need him checking up on me. He shouldn't waste his time on someone like me."

  "Well, he clearly doesn't think it's a waste of time," Alicia purred, then she looked at Nida sternly, "and what do you mean someone like you? I'll admit, you're no Bridgett, but that doesn't seem to bother him. Somehow, and for some reason, you have caught the eye of the beloved Lieutenant, and you should be proud."

  Nida felt her cheeks redden. "It's not like that. He doesn't like me," she forced a laugh, "he just thinks it's his duty to look after me for some reason. I thought I told him last night it wasn't, but he clearly didn't get the message."

  "Oh, I'm sure he'd get it if you got up real close and whispered it in his ear," Alicia laughed.

  Nida rolled her eyes.

  She wasn't having this conversation.

  She grabbed up her toast, shot Alicia a chilly look, then walked for the door.

  "Have a good day," Alicia waved to her cheerily.

  Nida opened the door.

  "And don't forget to send the lieutenant my love," Alicia added with a cackle.

  Nida walked to class in a foul mood. Well, half a foul mood. She was still feeling atrociously ill.

  Every move she made was laborious and usually accompanied by a heavy, pathetic sigh.

  She was approximately one year away from graduating, but despite the pain she'd pushed herself through to get this far, she started thinking seriously about quitting.

  Like today.

  She could go up to Sharpe, tell him to get lost, and be on a transport home by the afternoon.

  With that thought to distract her, she made it through the grounds to her first class. As she walked across the lawns and through the halls, she half expected to see Carson Blake shadowing her. Perhaps he'd be leaning out of the 20th-floor window, following her with a holo camera. Or maybe he'd be up a tree, watching to see if she'd die underneath it or something.

  She expected him to be around every corner.

  ?.

  But he wasn't.

  First period she had advanced engine design - a core unit that she was most definitely going to fail. After that, she'd attended astrophysics, then maths, and finally more TI theory.

  She really expected to see Carson snooping around at some point, but she didn't.

  Not once.

  Either he was particularly stealthy, or he'd lost all interest in her.

  Perhaps he'd gotten the message that she didn't need someone like him looking after her.

  Apart from checking for Carson under every seat and behind every door, the day was mostly a blur.

  Nida spent her time avoiding her classmates. Their sudden interest in her was unnerving.

  They all wanted to know the same thing.

  What was wrong with her TI? Had it been fixed? Could other TIs malfunction in the same way?

  When cornered, she always muttered the same reply: she didn't know.

  Needless to say, everyone found this unsatisfying, and they kept pressing her for more.

  So she found herself running away a lot that day.

  In fact, by the time she made it home, she was totally and utterly spent.

  She had a pounding headache, her chest felt half frozen, and her right hand tingled uncomfortably.

  All she wanted to do was head straight to bed.

  She didn't get the chance.

  She made it in the door when the apartment's computer chimed with a message.

  Dreading it was Carson calling to check on her, she slowly made her way up to one of the large holo panels on the wall. After a tight breath, she accepted the message.

  Instantly a face popped up on the panel.

  It wasn't Carson, though.

  It was Alicia.

  ?.

  Nida had to swallow something that tasted suspiciously like disappointment, then she tried for a smile. "Yeah?"

  "I need you to come help me now," Alicia said dramatically.

  Before Nida could worry whether her flatmate was in serious trouble, Alicia took another overwrought breath.

  "My other friends have canceled on me. Left me in the frigging lurch, the bastards," Alicia spat.

  "Ha? What's the problem?" Nida asked, realizing she was definitely being roped into something, but she was too tired to do anything about it.

  "How are you feeling?" Alicia asked, her eyes darting up and down as she appeared to assess the image of Nida she'd be receiving on whatever panel she was using to make the call.

  "Ah, a little like hell," Nida admitted.

  There was a lengthy pause. "How much like hell?"

  "Where is this going?" Nida asked perceptively.

  "Basically, I need a hand. I've been asked to help out with an event for the E Club, and now I'm roping you in too."

  Nida stood there and let her expression reveal all.

  She was not going.

  The E Club? Was Alicia out of her mind?

  Apparently, because she shoved her face right up close to the holo panel. "You're coming," she said with supreme finality.

  "Alicia, are you nuts? The E Club??and me? Yeah, that's not going to work. I'm going to walk in the door and be dumped right back out on my ass," Nida crossed her arms sternly.

  "They aren't that bad," Alicia pointed out with a huff.

  "Not that bad?" Nida questioned after a lengthy pause. "They're snooty elitists. The best of the best at the Academy. The popular, the smart, the beautiful, the strong, and the talented."

  "You're point?"

  "I don't belong there. No," Nida corrected quickly with a strong shake of her head, "I don't want to go there. I have better things to do with my time."

  "Yeah," Alicia's voice was strained. "Of course you do. But you're coming to help. Because not only do I need a hand, I also want to keep an eye on you.
I don't like the idea of you being in that apartment all alone. Something could??happen," she took a step backward, her whole face coming into view. Her usually confident, if arrogant expression became fractured with worry.

  Nida was ready to say there was no way she was coming, but she hadn't been prepared for that.

  Alicia didn't look as if she were acting.

  Still, Nida wasn't about to abandon reason and voluntarily attend an E Club function. That would be like putting your hand up for several hours of crippling social embarrassment. "Ah, I'd like to help," she lied, "but I feel terrible. I just need to sleep."

  Alicia appeared to be calculating something. Perhaps she was getting ready for a second assault, or maybe she was pausing to think of an even better excuse to manipulate Nida with. Instead, she sighed. Loudly. "God, you're right. Of course you are. Never mind. But I'll call occasionally to check how you're going."

  ?.

  Really?

  Alicia was going to give up just like that?

  "Go and get some rest," Alicia smiled. It wasn't even a bitter move; she looked genuinely friendly as if she'd dropped all attempts at manipulation.

  "Ah??okay," Nida pushed her fingers into her collar and pulled it away from her skin. "Are you sure?"

  "Yeah. You need rest. Now go get it. I'll tell you all about this event when I get home," Alicia announced happily.

  "Right, okay. Have fun," Nida managed as Alicia signed off, leaving nothing but a black screen.

  Nida blinked at it for several seconds, closed her eyes, winked one open, then shrugged her shoulders and moved off.

  That had been strange.

  Alicia was usually as determined as a pit-bull, but she'd changed her mind with little protestation from Nida.

  Muttering to herself as she walked away, Nida paused to stare out at the view briefly.

  It was a glorious afternoon and looked as if it would lead to a light and breezy night.

  While everyone else in the city would be out enjoying it, she would be wrapped up in bed.

  It was a little disappointing, but only a little.

  All Nida had to do to confirm going out was idiotic was to look at her right hand, then over to her left one.

  While her right hand had received the injury, it was her left hand that perpetually felt??odd.

  It just didn't seem right, almost as if it wasn't entirely hers anymore.

  As she struck upon that thought, she realized it summed up what she was experiencing perfectly: her left hand didn't feel entirely her own. Which begged the question - who or what else did it belong to?

  Shivering at that extremely unsettling thought, Nida walked into her bedroom, changed, and settled down on the couch.

  Before she knew it, she dozed off.

  And, like usual, she dreamt.

  This time she wasn't on the planet; she was walking through the halls of the Academy. As she wound her way along, she stretched out her left hand, or rather, it stretched itself out. As it did, blue energy cascaded over it, twisting and writhing as it played over every centimeter of flesh.

  She pressed her fingers into the wall, and immediately the blue energy shot into the smooth metal, burning and blistering it.

  She kept walking along, humming some kind of tune.

  She reached a classroom.

  There were people inside.

  She kept walking past them, but as she did, the blue electricity shot from her hand, plunging into their chests.

  There was a snapping noise. Then screaming. Horrible, continuous screaming.

  She couldn't see their faces.

  She didn't pause to watch them fall.

  She simply moved on.

  She kept walking the halls.

  Then security came.

  They ran toward her, guns leveled.

  They screamed at her to stop.

  She simply kept walking forward.

  She couldn't stop.

  They went to shoot her, but they didn't get the chance. With a swipe of her left hand, every man and woman in the team lifted into the air.

  She watched their faces contort in shock.

  Then she pointed one finger upwards. As energy crackled over her skin, the floating security team shot upwards. With terrible, resounding cracks, they slammed into the ceiling.

  She didn't wait.

  She didn't stop.

  She kept on walking.

  As she moved underneath them, little droplets of blood fell from the ceiling onto her cheeks and hands.

  ?.

  She could not stop herself.

  No matter what she did.

  She kept on walking forward, destroying everything in her path, until the real Nida screamed herself awake.