Chương 61: Ch 34b – Demo

The insistent ringing of her phone pulls her sluggishly from her sleep. Groping on the bedside table, her hand searches the place where she plugs it in every night. Hairband, book, tissues, the textured surface of the oak top. Her fingers can't find the phone. Her hand nudges something that clatters onto the floor and rattles away. Her plastic bottle of magnesium tablets. The phone rings insistently again. She groans, untwisting herself from the duvet, propping herself up on her elbows.

On the bedside table her phone lights up with the caller. Jenny: Accept or Decline? She reaches again for the phone, but even though she is looking at it, her fingers can't grasp its edges. The phone rings again. Jenny: Accept or Decline? flashes on the screen. She watches as the vibrations jiggle the phone across the wood. That's a weird ringtone, she thinks. Again, she tries to pick it up. Again, it evades her hand. The phone thumps out its insistent tone. Jenny: Accept or Decline?

It's definitely not her ringtone.

"Cara," the phone calls her name followed by two more thumps.

"Cara, I'm opening the door," the phone says. Cara opens her eyes, blinking at the dirty ceiling above her. That's not my ceiling, she thinks. She bolts upright just as the door opens.

"Where's my phone?" she calls out, not looking up. The bedside table was not where it is supposed to be. She starts rummaging in the bed for her phone.

"Cara," Draig says from the doorway. She looks up. It takes a moment for things to fall into place. She isn't in her bed. This isn't her home. Jenny isn't phoning her. She doesn't have a phone anymore. Jenny isn't in this world. Reality claws painfully at her heart. For a second she wants to shout at Draig. As if it is his fault. As if he can undo everything that has happened. Everything that is happening. He shifts in the doorway, one hand braced high by his head, the other still clutches the door latch.

Unusually for him, he seems unable to meet her eyes.

"Cara, you're needed in the hall. Get dressed," he says to the corner of the room. His thumb taps irritably on the doorframe. She scrambles out of the bed as if by moving quickly she can leave her encroaching despair entangled in the sheets.

"Have I done something wrong?" she asks, looking about the room, her groggy mind refamiliarizing itself with the layout and her scant belongings. The low, flat light from the window feebly penetrated the nighttime shadows.

"No. I'll wait in the hallway," he says, shutting the door on her next question. She dresses quickly, opening the door as she pulls on her boots. He stands waiting in the dark hallway, halfway towards the stairs. Standing, not leaning, his hands clutched behind his back. His behaviour is off. She wonders if she is still dreaming.

"What's happening?" she asks, scraping her hair into a messy ponytail as she walks towards him.

"Is it morning?"

"Dawn just broke," he replies, ignoring her other question.

"When you get to the hall, follow Wyndeer's lead. Don't talk unless you are asked a question." He turns and begins making his way along the hallway to the stairs.

"What's going on Draig?" she asks, hearing the rising panic in her voice. She half trips trying to catch up with him and finds herself bracing a hand against his back as she stumbles into him. He whips around, catching her wrist in a crushing grip whilst pulling it hard above her head. As she yelps, more in shock than in pain, he seems to realise she has not attacked him. His cold eyes widen, and his mouth opens, but as he releases her arm a snarl of annoyance curls his lips.

"Cara," he admonishes her, "you need to stop being so impulsive. Control how you act, think before you speak. Come on, he's waiting."

"Me? What? What are you talking about?" she hisses, rubbing at her wrist, still hot from his grip.

"Why don't you try to stop being so fucking cryptic all the time and start explaining what's going on." She is glad he has let go of her wrist because the look of anger that crosses his face would surely have been felt in his fist. He looks away, taking a breath to compose himself. When he looks back his face had reset into cold detachment.

"No, Cara," he says icily.

"Start trusting that I am trying to help you. Start now. When you get to the hall, follow Wyndeer's lead. Do not break rules. Do not get emotional. Clear?" He takes her shocked silence as agreement and moves to the stairs. Trusting that she will follow. ….. Moving from the darkness of the hallway to the brightly lit corridor below is an assault on her eyes. Still blinking as she walks into the hall she does not immediately appreciate the change in setup nor the presence of a guest.

"Cara," Vheece greets her from a cone of light on the small metal table. The sound of his voice has every hair on the back of her neck standing to attention. She stops abruptly, as if standing statue-still will hide her from his sight.

"So good of you to finally join me. Wyndeer assured me it would be no problem," he oozes insincerely. During her time at the outpost she has tried to convince herself that Vheece is not as menacing and creepy as her memories portray. She told herself that her state of shock and grief warped her perceptions of him. Now, with a feeling of sinking dread, she understands that there has been no mistake. She searches the room for Wyndeer.

He is stood to her left, his back straight as a rod, his shoulders stiff, his arms clasped behind his back. He does not acknowledge her. He keeps his attention firmly on Vheece. To her other side, Crathsun mirrors Wyndeer's pose. She watches in dismay as Draig moves to stand by Crathsun's side, assuming the same rigid position. Behind her, the door to the corridor is firmly shut.

"I am very encouraged by the reports on your progress," Vheece has continued speaking as she took in her surroundings.

"I want to see for myself. A live demonstration." Something buzzes above her. Looking up she sees a silver ball the size of a grape spinning fast, emitting a quickly pulsing white light. More lights blink in her periphery, more silver balls. They are spaced about a metre apart, creating a blanket of hovering lights blinking like stars in the high-ceilinged room. The bright white lights imprinted into her vision, she looks down, trying to squeeze the flashes from her eyes.

"Cara," Vheece calls her attention back to his face.

"A demonstration of your psychokinesis," he prompts. Her voice was mute in his unexpected presence, but her body takes two steps back.

"No, stay where you are, I can see you clearly," he says, misinterpreting her desire to run.

"The holo cage allows me sufficient view. Wyndeer, let's start." She twists to look at Wyndeer again, noticing this time that beyond him more silver balls hover, at head height, waist and ankles. She pivots, tracking the network of balls in a wide arc around the room. Vheece is right, she is trapped in a cage. Her heart beats loudly in her chest. Her breaths became short gasps that catch in her throat. As she continues to track around the room Draig's face comes into view. He is looking not at Vheece but at her.

His chest expands in an exaggerated inhale and, following a parting of his lips, drops slowly back. She mimics his breathing. He rewards her with a momentary drop of his impassive mask to reveal a flash of warmth in his eyes. His chin gives a small upward tilt as he switches to look at something behind her. Pivoting quickly back she finds Wyndeer at her side. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Cara," Wyndeer addresses her in a calm and clear tone, "there is a selection of objects on the floor in front of you. Vheece would like to see you raise and move them. As per our rules, your boundary to your sides and above is the holo cage, front and back is the space between yourself and the table. This is a demonstration of your control." He pauses, ensuring she has caught the warning in his words.

"During the demonstration you may retain the shard. Is that clear?" She swallows hard. Knowing he expects a verbal acknowledgement she focuses on forcing sound from her throat.

"Yes," she whispers.

"Hurry it up Wyndeer," Vheece calls out impatiently from his cone above the table. Unlike Argatta's rendering, Vheece's head and torso come through with unmistakable clarity, from his puffed-out chest to his thickly slicked hair and deep black eyes.

"Argatta?" Cara asks the room timidly. Vheece sneers in annoyance, "No Argatta, Draig is here. Shard findings will be disclosed once the assessment is complete. I'm sure he will be submitting one of his comprehensive reports on your welfare in the meantime." His choice of phrase ignites a spark of indignation in Cara. She stokes it, encouraging its growth, creating a fuel to fight her fear of Vheece's intentions. Of all their intentions.

"Start, Wyndeer," Vheece demands. Wyndeer holds a shard out to her.

"Just like in your exercises," he murmurs, his lips hardly move as he speaks. He steps silently back to his original position. Leaving room for the performing monkey, she thinks bitterly.

"I see a brick, a pipe, a cup and a weight," Vheece says, leaning forward in his cone as if he is peering over the tabletop.

"Start with the brick, Cara." He settles back in his unseen chair, shifting with the excited anticipation of an audience getting comfortable for a show. Run? Her legs twitch the suggestion. She sighs, looking down at the shard in her hand. Familiar. It impresses the idea on her as if knowing how alone she feels. She strokes its glossy surface with the side of her thumb. If it can tell me what I need to hear, she muses, why can't it tell me what it's really for.

"Cara," Vheece demands. She sighs again, drawing in a long inhale, and activates the shard. The brick rises, hovering at eye-height between her and Vheece. She gives it the notion to spin, watching as the starlight of the holo cage twinkle against its shiny sides.

"Fascinating," Vheece says in delight. She ignores his image. She thinks about how fast the little silver balls spin. The brick picks up speed. The twinkling of reflected light blurred into long lines of bright white. The sharp corners of the brick disappeared into the illusion of a curved sphere.

"Cara," Wyndeer says in a low warning voice. She slows the spinning down but doesn't wait until it has stopped before she releases her breath. The brick drops like a stone. As it hits the ground the momentum of its spin flings it whizzing across the floor out beyond the halo cage.

"Very interesting," Vheece crows.

"But why did you stop? Bring it back. I want to see you move it around, not just spin it." Cara makes an exaggerated bow as she peers down the room to locate the fallen brick.

"Unfortunately, I can't do that," she says innocently.

"The brick is outside of my boundaries." She presses her lips together hard to supress her smirk as he frowns in annoyance.

"Wyndeer?" Vheece demands.

"Safety protocols," Wyndeer explains. Vheece scoffs.

"Don't be ridiculous Orange. You and Crathsun have taken bigger hits than a flying brick." Wyndeer clears his throat.

"I believe the concern is more for Cara, Green. She's still very much in the early stages of mastering her control. And," he adds, "it has been agreed that she is highly accident prone." Cara can't stop herself from shooting an incredulous look at Wyndeer. He ignores her. Vheece huffs.

"Cara," he orders, "do two objects at the same time. Make them move about."

"Certainly, Green," she clips. Vheece smiles. Her sarcasm is lost in his arrogance. She looks across the objects. She has never lifted a weight before, she is surprised Wyndeer has included it in the selection. Until now he has favoured restricting her to light objects. The weight looks to be one of the heavier ones she has seen Draig lift, grunting in his efforts. She activates the shard, giving the notion to move to the pipe and the cup.

She gives them the idea of bobbing up and down on a wave in the swell of the sea. They dip and rise as they float across the room in front of Vheece. His black eyes track the two objects as they move in front of her.

"Can you move one without the other?" She catches the reflex to answer just in time, managing to continue holding her breath. The pipe and cup wobble but do not fall. She hasn't tried to move two objects in different ways at the same time. Crathsun's approach focuses on perfecting basic controls first. A burn grows at the edges of her lungs. She resists the urge to breathe. Giving the pipe the notion to continue bobbing on the sea at waist height she turns her attention to the cup.

Up and down, she impresses on it, like you're a bouncing ping-pong ball. The cup plunges down, touching the ground with a light tap before rising to reach the limit of the holo cage. From its apex it falls to repeat a bounce on the floor. Her eyebrows rise in surprise at her achievement. Breathe, her lungs insist. She looks back to the pipe. It wavers, unsure of its desires, then starts to rise, mimicking the cup. Not quite that easy, she thinks. Breathe, her lungs demand. She lets out her breath in a quick exhale.

Not caring about the drop of the pipe and cup.

"I didn't say stop," Vheece complains, staring hard at Cara.

"No, but my lungs did," she mutters. Wyndeer clears his throat loudly.

"She's still very restricted by the limited time she can hold her breath," he explains to Vheece.

"We are going to propose some additions to the training programme. Methods to improve her breath stamina and improve her lung capacity."

"Oh yes, oxygen saturation masks and such," Vheece says, his hand waving back and forth dismissively. Wyndeer hesitates, a frown shadowing on his brow.

"Yes," he says cautiously.

"It's why we are also proposing an extended stay here at the outpost. So that we can continue to develop a programme without too much distraction." Wyndeer emphasises the last words, then licks his lips as he waits out the silence of Vheece's consideration.

"An extended stay would be less complicated," Vheece says slowly, still in contemplation.

"We have made a lot of progress in the last three days," Wyndeer presses.

"We believe we can continue to accelerate her if there is no break in momentum." Cara bristles at the heartlessness of his words. Her mouth opens, drawing in a noisy breath to protest these people's continued lack of consultation, or even basic regard of her feelings or wants. A sharp ping-ping-beep sounds in her ears.

"What-" she starts to say to Wyndeer.

"Don't," Draig warns her inside her head. Her voice falters, the words disappear from her open mouth.

"Don't say anything," Draig's voice orders. She pivots to look at him. He ignores her, maintaining his attention on Vheece.

"Follow Wyndeer's lead," he warns her again. In the room he remains quiet but in her head he speaks clearly. She watches as his Adam's apple moves up and down his neck and the corner of his mouth flexes.

"Face Vheece," he orders in her head. She turns back to the cone on the table.

"Why do you keep saying we?" Vheece demands of Wyndeer.

"I'm in consultation with Draig. As I'm sure you've seen, his reports back to Argatta have been very positive and very persuading. He is amenable to supporting a longer stay at the outpost for the benefit of the shard assessment and will reassure Argatta the Joint Visitor Programme principles are being followed."

"I bet he's eager for an extension," Vheece sneers, continuing to ignore Draig and Crathsun.

"I am disappointed to miss out on observing training in-person, but I do concur with your points Orange. You will continue at the outpost for the time being. I expect an acceleration of results in return."

"Of course, Green," Wyndeer affirms without emotion.

"Let's finish with one more demonstration," Vheece announces.

"Cara, I asked Wyndeer for something more interesting. Move the weight." Affront burns in her veins. Their discussion of reports. Wyndeer's accounts praising their efforts training a feral animal. Draig's intrusion into her head to curb her voice. Vheece barking orders at his new pet. It burns her fear into hate. She activates the shard, giving the weight the notion to rise up fast in front of Vheece's arrogant face. It isn't his actual face, she reasons to herself.

She can show him how she feels without causing physical harm. That doesn't break Wyndeer's precious fucking rules. She pulls the weight back, giving it the idea of being stretched taut in the elastics of a slingshot aimed in the middle of Vheece's disgusting, soulless black eyes.

"Don't be childish," Draig snaps in her head. She rushes her exhale before the sudden thought of flinging the weight at Draig's condescending voice transfers through the shard. The weight clangs loudly to the ground. The sound barely registers for her. She doubles over, bracing her hands on her knees. Hiding the shock at what she could have done, almost did, under the pretence of getting her breathing under control.

"A lot more progress needed," Vheece complains above her.

"I look forward to the reports." She straightens up in time to see the cone fade out and the lights disappear from the halo cage. The silver balls swarm like bees to a case by the far wall. Crathsun is striding towards her, his arm outstretched ready to take the shard. She thrusts the shard at him, not caring for accuracy, leaving him to fumble as he takes hold of it. She brushes past him, marching directly up to Draig.

"Get the fuck out of my head," she shouts, slamming the heel of her hand hard into his chest. She doesn't care for his response, spinning on her toes she storms out of the hall.