The Coordinate

Chapter 16: The Start of A Turnaround

            The unsettling sparking of the neural wires. The rattling beeps echoing through the walls. The haunting red lights. And lastly, her bloodcurdling scream.

            It snapped something in him.

            Winter laid in a pristine white bed. Tubes were connected all over her body. Her skin was as grey as gravel, and her forehead and eyes were as if 6 inches of lead was shot through it. The bandages wrapped around her was already drenched in blood. The nurse had changed her bandages every thirty minutes or so for the past six hours. Blood relentlessly seeped from her pores. A power outage would be the death of her, he thought.

            What kind of pain must she have experienced, he wondered

            More importantly, whose fault was this?

            That Swallow guy, for getting her into this situation? Or the New World Government and the novasapiens for intentionally treating her as such?

            It welled up in him, the rage. He wanted to lash out, throw a tantrum, wreck everything around him, but he didn’t know who and where he should.

            Swallow’s words repeated in his head, over and over again. About him rescuing her from this, though Jordan silenced his voice in his mind.

            His stomach rumbled louder than the humming cell regenerator barely keeping Winter alive.

            The door opened behind him. Rori entered the room with a tray of vegetables, eggs, chunks of roasted mutton and two water bottles.

            “Excuse me, nurse? Err, the Chief Sectorate wanted you to take a break.” Said Rori, gazing nervously at the nurse.

            The woman bowed and exited the room.

            “I didn’t see you during dinner.” Rori started, sitting where the nurse had. She offered the tray to Jordan, but he pushed it away.

            “I didn’t want to eat.” Jordan replied.

            “Come on. You’re like that overreacting boyfriend in the movies. Are you really that concerned?”

            “Why wouldn’t I be? Look at her. I can’t even her breathe! I don’t even know if she’ll wake up with her memories intact, or something.”

            “She’ll be fine, Jordan.  Like I said, Winter’s too stubborn to die.”

            Jordan let off a snort, “Yeah. You’re right.”

            Rori pushed the tray in front of him again rather playfully. “Hey, come on. Eat. I’m sort of worried more about you more than Winter now.”

            “I’m sure Winter wouldn’t be happy to hear that. Hope you’re not developing feelings for me, Rori. You’re being a little too soft these days.” He threw a laugh.

            “Hmph. As if, you incorrigible ass.”

            “You forgot to add the word ‘genius’.” He surrendered to Rori’s insistence and held up his hands in acceptance. Rori handed over the tray to him. He put little bits and pieces of the food and drank some water. His body was surprisingly drier and thirstier than he thought.

            “Thanks,” he said in between meals. “Food isn’t as terrible as the ones they serve over at the testing facility.”

            “Well, this is a research site after all.”

            “That’s exactly why I thought it would be some bland mush.”

            Rori’s eyes panned all over her room. It was a spacious, white room filled with sleek, clean furnitures and machines, but the one that caught her attention the most was the heavy-duty apparatus just above her head, with a timer indicating an anxiety-inducing 13 minutes counting down by the second.

            “Say, Rori.” started Jordan, “How would you feel if someone like your parents, or sibling, or even your boyfriend doesn’t want you to become who you want to be?”

            Rori stared at him. Her orbs locked on his for a second that seemed to span like an eternity. She then sighed, “I wouldn’t know. I don’t even have an idea of who or what I want to be in the future.”

            “You said you want to be a Weapon’s Carrier, didn’t you? A special ops soldier is as dangerous and ambitious as it gets.”

            She inhaled, “It’s… complicated.”

            “Complicated how?”

            “I’m not sure if I’m ready to tell you yet.” Rori looked away from him, fixing her eyes on Winter, “I might want to tell you soon though.”

            Jordan threw a snort, “Damn. I saved your life and you still don’t trust me, but it’s okay though. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

            “N-no, I do trust you, I swear! It’s just not a matter of trust, you know?”

            “Mm. Well, it’s not my place to be nosy anyway.” Jordan’s eyes hardened, and seemed distant, like he wasn’t really there. “My place is by this girl’s side, and against everything wanting to harm her.”

            A thought occurred to her Rori, “Jordan, that Swallow person told me something.”

            “Did he say he’d save Winter and the Earth?” Jordan replied.

            “Oh. He said the same to you, huh? He also said something about Winter being hurt and experimented like this. It’s kinda scaring me what’s happening behind closed doors. And… well, I guess I want to know what you think.”

            “Would it unsettle you if I say that I’m actually thinking and considering it?”

            “Relieved, actually. Admittingly, I’ve been thinking about it for a while now.” Rori exhaled. “What do you want to do?”

            “I don’t know. I don’t know who to trust with her life.”

            Rori snorted, “’Her life’? By the Zionous, Jordan, try thinking about your own for once.”

            “I don’t need to. My whole life belongs to her the moment her mom decided to adopt me.”

            “Adopted…?”

            “What, did Winter not bring up that I’m basically her adoptive brother?”

             “No!” Rori burst out laughing, “That’s… kind of weird, actually--you know, with how you talk and treat her and stuff. I had the impression that you were this overprotective, overly-attached, and, clingy childhood friend or something.”

            “Well, technically that’s still not incorrect.” Jordan snorted. “ Here I was thinking that Winter was the type to tell people this to make it not embarrassing for her.”

            Winter’s eyelids moved in both their periphery. Jordan and Rori sharply turned to her. Winter opened her eyes and looked at her friends.

            “Hey. What happ-. Oh.”

            “I’m glad you’re okay.” Jordan exhaled. “For a second there, I thought not even the cell regenerators would keep you alive.”. He turned to Rori, “Quick, turn on the rapid cell regenerator.”

            The machine behind Winter’s bed hummed, and she let its warmth course through her entire body.

            “Okay, that’s fine now. Thanks Rori.”

            Rori flicked a switch, and the machine stopped humming.

            Winter twirled her finger and moved her limbs. Her arms were lighter than she remembered it to be, and her legs still ached.

            “You hungry?” Jordan asked.

            “Not so much. How many hours as it been since then?” she asked Jordan, though she kept her voice low and her head even lower.

            “Six to seven hours.” Jordan replied.

            Rori kept her distance a bit further. The air emanating from the two made her nauseous, as if they were repressing something from each other.

            “Winter,” Jordan started. His gaze burned Winter’s skin, “What are you thinking?”

            “What?” she replied nervously.

            “I mean, about all of this. What are you thinking? Do you want to continue with these experiments?”

            Winter paused, staring at the blanket over her thighs, “I don’t want to, honestly, but the Zionous requested it. It’s a responsibility he wants me to bear, and I don’t think I can do it so easily.”

            “The Zionous asked you to do this?” Jordan’s eyes flashed.

            “I did it first out of guilt… You know, unconsciously toppling the surface city and stuff. But then the Zionous asked me to so… I-I couldn’t decline. Besides, I need to do this so it really doesn’t matter what I feel.”

            “The Zionous asked you to do that?! Wow, that’s a tremendous honor,” Rori joined, “But it’s a tremendous pressure too. I mean… stars, it’s the damn Zionous!”

            Jordan inhaled, “Winter, tell them you’ll stop. Let’s get back to the testing facility and get on to finishing this program then go back to Alaska and live life normally.”

            “Jordan, you know, don’t you? I won’t be able to become a spacer anymore unless I do this! When a human and a novasapien is linked through a ship, they’re going to need each other to pilot together from then onwards. They said there’s a chance that they’ll be able to rewire the ship or fix something in my head or something to get me to be able to be a spacer again.”

            “Do you really need to be a spacer though? You can just get into a crew in a normal space shuttle like a cook or something. You just want to see the stars, don’t you?” Jordan asserted.

            “That’s not what I mean. You of all people should know that already by now!” Winter retorted.

            “Guys…” Rori butted in, though the two’s hot gazes already burned against each other.

            “No, I don’t. You’ll be safe just in a normal f*****g crew, where I can contact you and know for sure you’re fine. Don’t cause us anymore problems, please. You just want to-“

            “You don’t know what I want, Jordan!” Winter shouted.

            Silence. Naught but ringing and treacherous voices inside their heads were the only sound.

            Winter deeply inhaled, “You know what? Go to your room or something the Chief Sectorate wants you to stay for the night. You too, Rori.”

            Jordan stood up without hesitation and stormed out of the room without looking back.

            “Will you be fine alone?” Rori said, stopping by the doorway, looking at her.

            “I’ll be fine, Rori. Thanks for tonight.”

            Rori nodded and exited.

             An intriguing sight indeed. The drama of blossoming teenagers with selfish desires mirrored that of the novasapien’s own thirst for knowledge and evolution.

Primal. Deceptive. Self-destructive.

            Winter, through the camera, whimpered to herself, burying her face into the pillow and squeezing it.

            “Fascinating,” said Dr. Raven, staring keenly on the monitor’s screen “Troublesome for work sure, but still quite fascinating!”

            “Everything’s amazing to you, Raven.” Mrs. Finch commented, sitting beside him.

            “It’s because everything truly is!”

            “Tetrate’i nai! We’ll need to take care of those two extras. It was a mistake bringing them here!” The Chief Sectorate fumed, stomping in circles behind them.

            “Take care of them how, exactly?” Mrs. Finch gave him a stern, sharp look, challenging him.

            “What else? We need to dispatch them and tell Winter Swan they were killed by the Corpi!!”

            “Really, Stork? You want to eliminate the first human to achieve a 99% capability result of both bio and mechanical engineering?”

            “What?!” exclaimed Dr. Raven happil, “Which one, Finch? Which one of them has such aptitude?!”

            “The boy. Jordan Heron. He’s excellent. Independent. Resolute. He might even be able to throw you off your throne, Raven.”

            “Oh, that’s impossible. He would be an interesting colleague though. Why are you holding him in the Collegium Initiative? Put him under my apprenticeship immediately!”

            “No can do. That boy only has one motive in life, and that’s to make the world a better place for Winter.” Mrs. Finch replied. “Lots of more prestigious programs and schools have heard of him and invited him. He turned them all down.”

            “Fine then,” joined the Chief Sectorate, “Then we shall eliminate the other one.”

            “No.” asserted Mrs. Finch again. “You are not touching my precious students. Don’t forget. You’re only the Chief because I made you so.”

            The Chief Sectorate, mumbled, annoyed, “Do your students even know who you really are, Finch?”

            “Of course they do! I’m their advisor--the sheperd guiding sheep to greener pastures, and nothing else. But that doesn’t have anything to do with the tests, now does it?”

            “Still, I’m concerned with what they’re planning to do. We need Winter Swan to cooperate--spacer connection won’t work unless the pilot is willing. We have to do something!”

            “Mmm. I might have something for you.” Finch tossed the Chief Sectorate a file keep. “Jordan, though a double-edged sword, I’ll be able to leash. As for Rori Moa, you can do whatever you want with her and use whatever information that file keep has. I’ll give you a clue. She and her parents have a complicated relationship, see what you can do with this information.”

            “I see. If the A’vin’s grand schemer thinks it’s a good idea, then it probably is.” He said.

            “However,” Finch’s eyes sharpened and narrowed. The air around the dark room became hot. Dr. Raven froze while the Chief Sectorate body stiffened. “By any means, you are not to hurt my students. Do you understand me, ‘Chief Sectorate’?”

            “Y-yes...”