Chapter 5

I woke up an unknown amount of time later in a cell, I was strapped to the bed, I say was because as I stretched waking up I broke the straps. I had finished sitting up and was looking around enough to realize I was in a cell. When I heard a voice speak over the intercom. They said, “Susan, remain calm, you are not a prisoner, you were strapped down for your own protection. Someone will be right with you to answer your questions.”

After a short wait Naomi opened the door, at least it looked like her but with blue skin. “No you’re not imagining things because yes my skin is blue,” she said before I could ask.

“Okay then why am I locked up in here? Last thing I remember is a flash of blinding light and a pain in my head,” I asked her.

“Something happened last night that we still have no idea what it was, all we know at the moment is it seems to have caused mutations in some people giving them either minor ones like my blue skin or major ones like the homeless guy that melted a bridge with his laser eyes. You have at least one mutation that is obvious and if I hadn’t been on duty you would probably have been shot by security. But I knew you when you were in your early twenties so I knew it was you,” she said, before holding out a mirror to me.

Looking into it I could see what she meant. I looked somewhere between nineteen and twenty two years old, but what she apparently hadn’t seen yet was the fact my eyes had turned a golden color and had pupils like a cat now.

“So what happens now? Do I spend the rest of my life as a science experiment?” I asked her.

“No, now that you have woken up stable and not an immediate danger to others. You are going to be transferred to The Farm until we know more about what is going on. You will probably be tested there to see what all powers you have. You are too good at what you do to be locked in a lab somewhere, “ she said.

She reached outside the door and handed me my sword before leaving. She left the door open to prove to me I wasn’t locked in. I wanted to find out for myself what was going on, so I headed to the cantina to get a bite to eat, and hear what people were saying.

I noticed as I was walking that several aches and pains I had developed over the years were gone. I got myself a snack once I arrived at the cantina, before walking over to sit in the TV room with a few other people. I glanced at the TV as I was sitting down and watched a man melt a bridge, just like Naomi had mentioned.

“Any word on what is happening yet?” I asked the people gathered.

“Not really they do know it has only affected the lower 48 states at least here in the US,” one of the guys said. “Actually it didn’t affect Hawaii, or anything west of there. It also doesn’t seem to have affected anything to the east of the US other than ships at sea along both coasts. That’s what our bases and embassies are reporting anyway,” the military liaison said.

A new report came in as we watched. It showed flames, speed, super strength, flying, and a porcupine man. I wondered what my testing would show.

Four hours later Naomi came back, handing me some papers. Looking down I saw it was a transfer to The Farm. “When do I leave?” I asked her.

“It’s 8 AM now, you leave at 10 AM, so run home and grab your go bag and anything else you want to take,” She said.

Getting up, I gathered my trash before nodding to her on my way out the door. Heading home there was chaos in the streets, I saw a woman with her hair on fire running down the sidewalk. Arriving at my apartment I saw a huge hole in the side of the building. I was still able to get inside and gather up my stuff, I did make sure to take anything that couldn’t be replaced.

While I was at home I called Sarah and her family, they were all okay which was a load off my mind. Mom and Dad were okay as well when I called them, luckily Dad was past the age they could recall him to active duty.

I drove back to the office in Langley. Part of my transfer orders was I had to have a follow car on my way to The Farm, to make sure I arrived safely and I imagine, actually went to The Farm. I went to the motor pool and presented my orders, at exactly 10 AM I walked out to my car and headed out.

The Farm is only about forty miles from Langley, just out in the country. With fighting traffic it took me about an hour and a half to drive it. I felt sorry for the guy trailing me. He would have to turn around and drive right back. I didn’t realize it then but it would be three months before I was able to leave.

When I checked in at the gate I found out. I wasn’t staying in the barracks this time but in an apartment. It was a nice furnished one bedroom, I put my things away before I sat on the couch and meditated to clear my mind. I finally managed to do so after a lot more time than normal.

I don’t know how long I was meditating before my front door opened. A very nervous woman was looking around the room, “Ma’am are you here?” she asked while looking right at me.

“I’m right here,” I said.

She jumped and then apparently she could see me. “What did you just do Ma’am?” she asked, after tilting her head like she was listening to someone else.

“Nothing that I’m aware of,” I answered her.

She got a confused look on her face, “Ma’am can you follow me to the security room? They have something they want you to see?” she asked.

I got up from the couch and motioned her to lead the way. She kept looking over her shoulder with what, if I had thought about it, was a scared look. We arrived at the security room, and I realized my living room at the very least had a camera set up to record in it.

“Ma’am, we have something that I think you need to see to believe,” The officer in charge said.

“Okay play it for me, Sid,” I said, recognizing him from my class here.

I watched a recording of me moving into the apartment, putting things away and then sitting down on the couch. According to the tape four minutes after I sat down I simply vanished from the couch. Six minutes after that the woman walked in and spoke, you could hear her and my reply. As soon as I spoke I reappeared in the same spot on the couch.

“What the hell?” I asked.

“That’s what we would like to know ourselves,” Sid said.

“Hmm lets test something, I’m going to sit here and do the same thing I was doing,” I said.

Sid nodded in agreement, so I pulled out a chair and sat down. I soon cleared my mind, I looked around and saw shocked looks on everyone’s faces. Sid reached out and put his hand on where my shoulder had been, and since I hadn’t moved and touched me. As soon as he did I seemed to pop back in.

Sid spoke up and said, “I’m going to have to report this to headquarters Susan.”

“I know, I was expecting that I would be watched while here,” I said to assure him I understood.

“You aren’t watching my bathroom are you Sid?” I asked.

Sid actually blushed before he said, “Yes, but only female officers are able to see the bathroom and bedroom cameras.”

I nodded since I really was expecting this level of surveillance until we understood more about what was happening. I decided to try a test, I stilled my mind. When everyone looked around I walked out of the room. I walked back to my room keeping my mind focused.

Arriving back at my room I stopped looking at the camera and asked, “Well Sid did my test work? Could you see me at any point between here and there?”

My room phone rang and it was Sid telling me they were looking at tapes but it didn’t look as though I had been visible while on the move. Later we did find a couple of frames that had picked up a blur, but only in areas I had been walking at what I thought was a normal speed.

Things settled down after that at least for a few days. I watched as people moved into the apartments beside mine. A man my Dad’s size moved into the apartment on the right side, and a small woman at least small compared to me, moved into the left hand apartment.

I knew the man, it was Mathew from my class but he was a lot larger now, before he had been about six foot tall, now he was six foot eight easily. The woman I had never met, her name was Iris, she had been through the class after ours. We got to know each other while we waited for testing, and the brass to decide what to do with us. Testing finally began for the three of us.

Iris was the weakest of us physically, only being able to bench 150 pounds while I could bench 350 pounds and Mathew just over 500. She was a wiz with explosives however, what was amazing was she could hack a computer just by being in the room with it. She could also fly and heal very quickly.