Fortress of Memory
Chapter 1
Copyright© 2009 by Crunchy
Dr Jasper was a kindly looking man, who resembled a trusted old uncle, or a skinny Santa without a beard. That is, until you looked past his vague expression, his white hair, his trust inducing white lab coat, and his engaging smile, and saw his icy blue eyes. He wasn't a bad man, he was merely a sociopath. It was in the job description, the unwritten fine print. You would have to be a sociopath to do the job that Dr. Jasper did. Because he had to pretend that he was not a monster, and pretend convincingly that he had the best interests of the children at heart. Stan knew the truth, though. Stan always knew the truth, although it was harder with Dr. J, (Stan carefuly avoided saying Dr. J's real secret name, even to himself, so he wouldn't slip up and say it aloud- Dr. Jeckyl.)
Dr J sometimes even believed his own lies, but not always, so that was how Stan could tell. There used to be eight of them, living in this disguised prison. When Dr. J said that Jeff and Sally, the two oldest had been transfered, he believed it, a little, but not well enough to prevent Stan from knowing the truth. Stan knew that they were both dead now. He had told Bin, and she had used her talent to become invisible, for the last year. Not really invisible, but unnoticeable. She was always quiet and shy and not very noticeable anyway, but for the last year she had really tried to not be noticed. It was hard, because they still needed five meals delivered at mealtimes. Tia helped out with that. At 14, she had bigger tits than Bin, and she was able to tease and cajole an 'extra' meal from the screws. Most of the time, anyway. Luckly, they weren't supposed to mess with the kids, and so far it had only been teasing and flirting for Tia. She was the reverse of Bin, very visible, trying to distract any attention as hard as Bin was trying to not attract attention. It was only a matter of time though,
Bin didn't know how much longer she could keep from being noticed. As far as that went, Tia was only two years younger than Bin, Reb was only three years younger, Stan was only six years younger, and little Cindy was only eight years away from being in the same boat as Bin, the same boat that had sailed away with Sally and Jeff. 'Transfered'. Stan knew, from using logic against the lies, that their powers were supposed to fade as they passed through puberty, and they were supposed to become ineffective. The Truth was, they got too powerful, and the scientists of Section 20 became more and more frightened of the children as they got stronger and less maliable. Reb had better hide her rebeliousness a little better, or she would find herself 'transfered' sooner than later. It is a good thing, all in all, that Reb has a relatively innocuous talent, like finding, and she couldn't find unless someone else asked her to look. That went a long ways to reducing the fear they might otherwise have had for her normal, teenaged obstinancy. And why wouldn't she be rebelious, why wouldn't anyone and all of them rebel against being stolen from their families, becoming part of the vast sea of missing children, but not taken by perverts, instead taken by scientists of their own government, just because they were different. Taken and experimented on.
It was a kindly prison, with TV and toys, games and books. They had eachother, perhaps best of all- but what good was that when they all faced being 'transfered' one by one, in the not so distant future. Cindy disarmed the scientists from worrying about her talent by being so gosh durned cute. She lisped, swung her feet, pouted, even held their hands as they escorted her off to do her tasks. She opened things for them. Locked computer files, vaults, disarming bombs- if it could be undone, cute little Cindy could undo it. Soon enough though, they would realise just what that ment for a captive locked in a secure facility. It was only her dimples that stood in the way of her frightening the holy bejezus out of them, and earning Cindy a 'transfer'. And at eight, missing her two front teeth, she could only get less cute from here on out. "No, Cindy, the toothfairy doesn't have clearance to enter a secret secure facility. What would you do with a fifty cent piece anyway?" What, indeed?
Tia whispered hope to them in their room that night. She had had a vision, of them all living in a house, with new names, and with Bin as their mommy. It would be easier for Bin to be their mommy than for Bin to be unnoticed. It was do-able, they could somehow excape from Section 20. And after all, if they got caught, what were they gonna do to them anyway- 'transfer' them? That was already a given, in all their futures. Besides, if Tia saw it, it was almost a sure bet- so they already knew they probably could do it. Hope bubbled and fermented in Section 20.
"Reb, find us a way out of here, to safety!" requested Stan. And so a Plan was formed.