Saeva Alterra Hawkins

  2510.08.15

  Sol 3UN1A Adjunct to Universe 0

  Reflexis City

  AAL Floor Training Facility 4, Bunkroom 5

  After months of repeating the same schedule, despite the events of the previous day, Saeva easily fell back into the habits of routine. She awoke at 4 a.m., ate her breakfast that consisted of a meal packet and a cup of water, and started her day. What followed was an eight-hour period of physical training and conditioning. Something she had to work on more than others because everyone else had Level III adaptations.

  Later, after this session, her afternoon would begin with 4 hours of downtime that was typically left for a short nap. Some days she would work on her collegiate level instruction node for her online degree in astrometrics. She would then end her day with a mandatory course load of AAL provided technical instruction. This was made up of various components she would need to complete missions effectively. From espionage, cultures of other spheres of human influence, to the economics that tied together the human experience within Sol. The variety of coursework felt infinite.

  It would be her assignment to service all walks of leveled life. Even if she didn’t have a level of her own. She would need to be prepared to combat, understand, and involve herself to ensure the law was followed.

  She was unique within the culture of the AAL training center. Unlike her peers, her childhood was spent with her friends hiding from a world they did not fit. Veronica, of whom, had only been able to use her abilities for mundane tasks made for an easy friendship with the powerless Saeva. Hope, another null like Saeva, also lacked any of the level III adaptations most of the human population enjoyed.

  Her bunkmates, however, were all Level I’s. A level categorization that had only appeared a hundred years ago. They were able to manifest magics Saeva could only dream of. Like Veronica, they could create materials out of nothing. They had the ability to manipulate these substances and maneuver them around. Unlike their Level II counterparts, who could only repeat a specific task, their abilities seemed more magical in nature.

  For Saeva, who relied on technology to achieve a sense of normalcy, anything above Level III adaptations were powerful magics unto themself. It was why she took training seriously. As someone without them, she needed to be effective at combating these abilities, even without having powers of her own.

  Today, her partner was Mel. The duo entered an empty space designated within the large training room.

  “I’m not going to take it easy on you anymore.” Mel said. She twisted her hands together, molding a pair of gauntlets made of pure light to cover her hands. “Last time you nearly got the best of me because I held back.”

  “I have to figure this out sometime, Mel.” Saeva replied. The girl slowly stretched as she prepared for the beating she was about to take. Together they moved to stand six feet apart. A small crowd gathered, wanting to experience just what Saeva could do after working at such a heightened pace the past three months straight.

  “I’ll let you taking the first move be my only handicap.” Mel said. She lowered her stance. Saeva didn’t reply, saving her efforts for the fight she needed her all for. With a thought, she synced with Seta. The two minds operated in parallel to overcome the limits of a normal human.

  With abnormal reflexes provided by her augmentations, Saeva blurred into motion. Easily tracked, Mel brought up her forearms to meet the expectant charge. Saeva waited until the last second and ducked to the ground. She slid just above the floor, Seta automatically engaged the repulsive magnetic field that allowed her to levitate upon the rebar beneath the concrete.

  Having not expected a surprise move from Saeva, Mel was caught unaware. She fell towards Seta, and with a quick flex of light, braced her back against a manifested wall and punched down. Saeva couldn’t do much to avoid the impact. The full force of her punch made contact with her skull.

  Mel had come to her senses, but it was too late. Unexpectedly, a blow that should have shattered her skull, or at the very least given a mild concussion, had simply just created a purple welt on the side of Saeva’s forehead.

  Saeva’s momentum carried her a few more feet before she quickly leaped up and landed on her feet once more. The entire encounter lasted several short seconds.

  “I’m alright.” Saeva gestured to the surrounding crowd. “Or at least I think so.”

  “Readings show, you are more than fine.” Seta chimed within her mind. The duo had a direct link through the variety of Saeva’s implants.

  “Are you sure? I didn’t hold back in the strike. Maybe we should stop here.” Mel said. A bit more tepid than her normal energy.

  “No!” Saeva said with more emotion than she had meant. “Besides, I need to be prepared to face actual combatants in the field. I feel fine for the most part, Seta even agrees.”

  “Alright. I’ll hold back a little then.” Mel said.

  “Did you not hear me?” Saeva said. She lowered herself once more. He knees bent prepared to launch herself once more across the room.

  Before Mel could reply, her friend hurtled towards her at breakneck speed. It was a pace that even Mel, with the quick visual reflexes provided by her innate adaptations, could barely react for. Quickly a wall of light manifested before the charging Saeva.

  With a crash of momentum, Saeva plowed through the barrier. Mel conjured beams of laser light that sailed through the air towards Saeva. Just as with the barrier, the beams that should have struck with painful burns, twisted around the woman as she hurtled towards her.

  Saeva moved in a fluid whirlwind as Seta manipulated her limbs. They dodged, weaved, and repelled various light constructs as they proceeded to close the distance between Mel and herself. An expression of shock covered Mel’s face as she actually had a hard time pinning her friend down.

  “This is a bit more than our last bout.” Mel said. The woman was still not out of breath. She easily kept several feet between herself and her opponent.

  “Yeah, I came up with a new trick while I was studying the other day.” Saeva said. Her look of determination briefly flicked into a smirk as she kicked up the pace. “Take it up a notch Seta.”

  Mel understood immediately. Saeva wasn’t a normal base human without any advancement. While it was abnormal for someone to need them, there were a variety of implants and modifications one could make to boost their innate abilities. As someone who didn’t need mechanical enhancement, this was a less than obvious path to take. That wasn’t the only advantage Saeva had.

  A normal person without a combat orientated ability couldn't maneuver this reflexively with this equipment. Meaning Saeva had utilized another advantage to fill this gap. Still, her AI, being a rare variant that could somehow emulate human level thought, didn’t have the capability to withstand a full impact of several tons of force. Light, while being a massless energy, had the potential to do a lot when you could precisely control the balance between mass and energy. It was a theoretical technique Mel had been working on over the course of her time at the AAL training facility.

  In the heat of the moment, she accidentally utilized this feature as she panicked. Saeva had actually managed to catch her off guard, with several encounters that somehow nullified her powers.

  Saeva, on the other hand, was excited for the turn of events. This was the first fight she had actually been on the front foot, since she came to this facility. She had suffered brutal loss after brutal loss as she battled against individuals who had natural advantages she didn't have access to. With the help of her companion, she was finally starting to turn the tide.

  It was Seta’s idea to redirect the light by utilizing the reflective properties of the iron within her blood. Just as a beam of light would make contact, nanites within her skin would convert the blood beneath the skin's surface into a mirror. This reflected the beam harmlessly away. In addition, various solar cell structures would form absorbing the actual photons that comprised Mel’s attacks. It had taken several fights to get right.

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  This was only possible, because Saeva had Seta. An artificial mind that could work behind the scenes and maneuver millions of machines within her body to redirect the attacks. Something that was unheard of outside of specific spheres of research.

  “You have a new message from Veronica.” Seta said. She had to be notified verbally as since they were midway through the fight she had social notifications blocked. One of the greatest parts of having an AI that could literally reside in you, is that it could multitask while you could not.

  “What does it say.” Seta replied with a thought.

  “She wants to get dinner.”

  “After this long of no contact? Did she give a reason at least.”

  “She said it’s important but was light on the details.”

  “Alright well I guess I can-”

  Saeva was cut off mid thought as she refocused her mind to the battle. During her brief lapse, Mel had pinned her to the ground and was rearing back for a punch. One that Saeva wasn’t sure she’d be able to miraculously withstand again.

  “Seta, I need you to repulse at full capacity.” Saeva thought as she searched frantically for a way to avoid the impact.

  “I don't think we could generate enough force, to completely remove her from on top of us.” Seta replied within her mind.

  “We don't have any other options.” Saeva replied as she directly took control over the nanites within the surface layer of her head. She wasn’t as capable as Seta but she could still manually control enough of the microscopic machines to cover a fist sized patch of her skin. At the same time, Seta triggered a large repulsion that thrusted the two women several feet into the air.

  Like Seta predicted, Mel still clung to her upper body, and while her expression was surprised, her fist was still aimed at her face. The glowing gauntlet of the hard light slammed into Saeva. Most of the light was redirected away or absorbed to charge the tremendous expenditure that had launched them into the air. However, Mel’s fist still had force. For all the light she could manipulate with nanites; the woman's skin was not one of them.

  She felt it connect. Unlike it used to feel in their previous fights, only the surface layer of skin and muscle tissue flared with bright pain as it encountered an equal amount of impact from the skull it was covering. It hurt, but beyond the top layer of tissue, her bone seemed unaffected.

  “Seta! Do the maneuver we discussed.” Saeva called in her mind.

  “Which one? There were like a lot of scenarios we went over.” Seta replied. Saeva pictured the movement she was thinking of, and Seta understood. She couldn’t understand that something that could read her mind from time to time, couldn’t always pick up on the moment-to-moment thoughts she expressed.

  Mel was shocked that for the second time, her punch had not brought Saeva to unconsciousness. Though she held back some, she had leveraged enough force to knock her sparring partner out. Enough to trigger the end of the fight. Then after that in an even crazier turn of events, Saeva rotated mid air, Mel who had been sitting on the falling woman now clung to her as they flew downwards in a burst of speed. Before they reached the ground, a strong force ripped Saeva away as Mel plummeted hard into the concrete.

  “That's enough!” Instructor called. “Victory is to Saeva, who just impressed the hell out of the rest of us.”

  “I’ll give her that.” Mel said as she sat up slowly from the ground. “That was brutal Saeva. To think anyone could have so much progress after only a few months of physical training.”

  “We’re gonna have to give you a nickname.” Instructor said. “Mary-Sue might have to do, then.”

  “I was out of tricks. Besides, if Mel hadn’t held back in her first attack she would have won.” Saeva said as her body slowly lowered to the ground. She just barely noticed a change in Mel’s eyes as the woman quickly looked away.

  “Veronica asked if tonight or I mean tomorrow works for dinner in the upper cavern. It’s confusing. I think she is saying 6am our time when they shift to the 6pm evening. Center of the city, cavern ceiling.” Seta chimed in her ear.

  “You couldn’t have planned for something closer? And maybe not right after training? I only have four hours for rest.” Saeva replied in her head.

  “Well, she apparently already made them and assumed you’d be free. So, we didn’t have a choice.” Seta’s voice had a hesitant quality to it.

  “Of course she would,” Saeva said out loud.

  “Of course I would what?” Mel asked as she approached her friend. She stretched out her arm shaking Saeva’s hand. “Good match.”

  “That was freaking amazing Saeva!” Daisy said as she hovered over to the duo. “I’m surprised you managed such a short fight.”

  “It wasn’t that short.” Saeva said. She stretched her arm behind her head.

  “Are you okay?” Mel asked. She studied the marks left from their fight. “I may have went a bit overboard.”

  “Yes. I’m fine. I need to go get cleaned up anyways.” Saeva said as she left the room.

  “And where are you going?” Mel asked. She gestured all around. “Kind of locked down if you hadn't noticed.”

  “I think I can manage a small excursion, besides you’ll cover for me right?” Saeva said.

  ...

  “Is this the place?” Saeva asked in her head. While she didn't have finances due to her status as a citizen lying in limbo. Seta was unaffected. While not considered a human, the artificial mind had hacked enough of an identity together to secure access to private funds and requested a grav-car. An identity that had free reign. It was also easy for an artificial mind to grant itself access to the backup entrances of the AAL training facility.

  Saeva, for all intents and purposes, did not care about the how or the why. She just knew as far as anyone was concerned; her name was Seta.

  “Why couldn’t you have just done this when I was originally placed on the non-citizen list.” Saeva asked as she stepped out of the vehicle. They were on a balcony that had a few spaces designated for the pickup and drop off of guests to the building.

  The transition from sunrise to sunset within seconds was weird for Saeva. Even after spending her lifetime in reflexis, she had spent that entire time on the cavern floor. So, with it being six in the morning, it felt weird to be eating Italian food.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Veronica said as she stepped out of an adjacent grav-car. It was a voice that Saeva had never thought she’d hear again.

  “Veronica!” Saeva called as she ran over and wrapped her old friend in a hug. It was the first time since they started schooling that they had been apart this long.

  “Can a woman not be aloof?” Veronica asked. “Besides I for one, am famished.”

  “Why are you talking so weird.” Saeva asked. “Is something wrong?”

  Veronica met her eyes and then shifted into a manic grin.

  “I’m just playing up the part. Clandestine meeting, long lost friends reencountering each other. It’s like something out of a movie. Shame me if I get creative with it.”

  “Welcome to the Glacial Palace. Do you by any chance have a reservation?” A man asked as the two women walked into the restaurant.

  “Yes, under Gardiner.”

  “For two?” The man asked. “Do you have any requests?”

  “Can we get something with a view.” Veronica said her voice coming out as an excited squeal. They followed the host through the restaurant and out the other side of the floor. They were seated on a large veranda that overlooked a large pillar of an office building. It stretched from ceiling to cavern floor.

  “So, what was the reason?” Saeva asked. She browsed slowly through the menu. Mostly Americanized Italian fare, an assortment of pastas, and for some reason an Asian style ravioli dish that didn't fit the menu. After a few minutes of no reply, Saeva looked up to see Veronica’s gaze slowly pan the city around them, and not her own menu.

  “I needed to ground myself to be honest.” Veronica said after a few moments. “There’s been a lot going on.”

  “Is everything okay? How’s Hope?”

  “She’s doing great actually!” Veronica perked up. “She’s training to be a medical doctor. The old school kind. Apparently, it's a big field for those with lower end abilities to get into.”

  “That’s gotta be a lot though. For someone without anything to try and accomplish.” Saeva said. She thought on her own past few months. The struggles she had on a daily basis sparring people who could snap her in half with a few moments of effort.

  “She’s starting at the basics.” Veronica said. “It will be a few years before she starts her residency. She’s excited. But also scared, especially after what had happened to you.”

  Veronica looked away as the waiter came and took their orders. After which the duo continued.

  “What about Ryan?” Saeva asked. Veronica visibly shrank. “Weren’t you two getting close?”

  “God no.” Her friend cringed. “We tried that, didn’t last the thought. He basically dropped off the face of the Earth the day you did. Last I heard from him he was mumbling about how unfair life was. I think his parents really got under his skin towards the end.”

  “And you?” Saeva asked again. Her focus shifted to the reaction of her friend. She hadn’t been in the program long, and yet her friend was already starting to become unreadable. “Why does it feel like your dodgin-”

  A violent explosion shrieked through the air. Saeva looked up just in time to see the neighboring building explode outward with debris. Fifteen floors above the restaurant, a huge section of glass and steel rained down. Standing in the large opening that spanned several floors was a woman. She was too far to make out, and yet she somehow felt familiar to Saeva. Before she could get a better look, more sections of the building exploded outward as the woman in question ran along the floor.

  Suddenly a massive chunk of debris came hurtling towards her. Like in the simulation, the aggregation of concrete and rebar beelined straight at her. However, unlike then, Saeva had no effect on the world. She froze, in her head the image of Dr. Roe seizing looped on repeat. She didn’t know how long she sat there, frozen by fear. It was only when a solid dome of ice manifested around her did, she break concentration.

  The wall, which turned out to not be one continuous amalgamation of ice, was rather a staggered brick pattern of ice cubes, that were fused to take the shape of a dome. The structure shattered as it absorbed the brunt of the impact from the large chunk of concrete. However, it didn’t completely stop it. With most of the momentum removed, Saeva jumped into action.

  Seta, without needing command, repulsed the rebar filled concrete as Saeva simultaneously jumped and punched the man-made regolith into pieces. In a cloud of dust, the once dangerous fragment of building fell towards the holographic sky below.