Saeva Alterra Hawkins
“Daisy!” A male's voice droned from two beds down. “We talked about this.” Saeva watched as the man stood up and walked over to a bed on the opposite end of the room.
“She’s still asleep, Rob.” A woman’s voice called out. “Just wake her up.”
The sound stopped, followed by a chorus of sighs from various voices in the room. As the lights stabilized and winked off, Saeva was able to make out those who now shared the room with her.
She paused for a second. Could she actually see in the dark now? The gloomy room, which should have been pure black, now seemed dimly lit, not cast in an invisible wielding darkness. There were nine others with her.
A woman about her age lay in the bed next to her. The one next to that was empty. She surmised that was where Rob had gotten up from. Across the room, she made out the man, a few years older than herself. He sulked over to one of the various doors opposite the entrance.
“Hey, newbie.” The woman next to her said. Her voice was a little too cheerful for what felt like three or four in the morning. “Glad to finally meet you. We were all a little excited when we walked in and saw a new person lying in your bed.”
She leaped out of bed; black pants and a training bra were all she wore. Her hair was let loose, untied, and flowing. It billowed past her shoulders, stopping just shy of her elbows. She proceeded towards one of the doors but quickly turned around before she got too far.
“I’m Mel,” The faintly green woman, Mel, quickly said. “How new are you exactly?”
“Pretty new, this morning, I came in with Lillian,” Saeva replied. “When I got in, I just went to sleep.”
“Ahem, it's been a day.” Seta chimed in her ear.
“What do you mean this morning?” Mel asked. There was a slight chuckle to her tone. “When we got here last night, you were already asleep, and it's morning now. You must’ve slept all day then.”
“I guess I was still recovering.”
Mel walked over to one of the closed doors at the end of the room, giving up on the conversation out of what looked like pure boredom. She stepped through as if it didn’t even exist.
An hour later, Saeva found herself once again in the administrative suite of the recruitment center. She was in Lillian's office, the woman in question wore a sleek white dress this time, accompanied by black heels. She was explaining the facility's security system.
"The general gist is," Lillian began, “simply walk to a door, if you have access, the nearby trim will glow green, you will then be able to enter. A yellow flash means temporary restricted access, and a red flash means access is denied.”
"That's pretty straightforward," Saeva stated calmly. Lillian nodded. "What else does the system do?"
"At the dining hall, you will be automatically dispensed food of your choice after sync. Here, let me get the process started.” A display appeared before the woman. She began tapping, and after a few moments her attention returned. "Your schedule will be synced over in a moment."
“Got it,” Seta said in her ear.
"You made the right choice in coming, Saeva." Lillian gave a sincere look. She placed her hand on her shoulder. "Now lets get you to the first training session."
Something clicked inside of Saeva. For a moment, the world was still, cogs of motivation and hope churned within Saeva’s mind. The duo made their way to the large training hall. At one end of the room was a large glass wall. Beyond the wall was what appeared to be an infinite space full of workout equipment, combat arenas, and various other spaces useful for training. Lillain gave her a pat on her shoulder and left.
"Welcome, newbie," Mel said as Saeva entered the training room. She was in a training uniform that appeared easy to move in. A logo of three Roman numeral I's read on one corner of her chest. On the opposite side, read the name Melanie Baker. Eight others crowded Saeva, their eyes held an excitement to them.
"So what's your level?" A boy said. His face was thin and awkward. He had a chunky build and thin brown hair that dropped on either side of his face. His words had a sense of childlike curiosity.
“Whoa, whoa,” Mel said. “Have a sense of care, Ranul. She literally just got here.” Her eyes looked Saeva up and down before glancing back to the boy. “I mean, has your training gone to waste? Like, did you not pay attention these past few months? As free agents of the system, we must be able to read people on the dime.”
“You lot! Get back to your training.” An older voice reverberated from the air itself. “You aren't fed and cared for to just mop around.”
The group dispersed to their own vices. Ranul and another kid began to run in circles around the insanely sized practice room. Saeva estimated it had to have been miles in circumference. Their speed increased by the second.
"Six miles," Seta chimed in her head. "What, I like numbers."
A woman much, much older than Saeva stood near a tank on the ground. She repeatedly froze the liquid within and then thawed it. A young girl, about the age of nine, sat next to the woman, watching intently. Mel, in all the chaos, had seemingly disappeared.
Saeva searched around for a few moments, only to see her pop back into view from nothing right after. Three more of the group began a sparring match. They were practicing some unknown form of martial arts. Each member held their own. One of them, a woman, was short and a bit thicker than the rest of the group.
Her neck had a few gills, and her skin had an opalescent hue to it. She seemed reinforced by some aged level III traits. Her hair flowed around her, the voluminous black locks defying gravity. Her curves and physique set her apart from the norms of the cavernous space.
The woman’s sparring partner was a man who appeared the same age as Saeva. He was equally as stunning, his jaw soft along the chin but sharp and square along the back corners. He had a face of determination, his muscles were sharp and well defined against his tan skin.
The third of those sparring was another man around Saeva’s age. He weaved in between the two, his body morphing around the various attacks thrown his way. He was of a darker tone; his facial features deeming him of a mixed ethnic origin. His dark brown hair was curled in short tufts of medium length. His face was lit in a bright smile.
The last person that caught Saeva’s eye was the man from this morning, Rob. He was older than her, but not the oldest by far in the room. He was of a white, almost pale, complexion. His eyes had a mix of seriousness and playfulness as he looked her way. The eye contact lasted for a moment before he went back to blasting a wave of steam towards a turbine. A holographic display hovered in front of him. It had a number that seemed to fluctuate based on how fast he turned the turbine.
“These people look tough.” Seta chimed in her ear.
“Makes me wonder what kind of training I’m going to be getting up to,” Saeva said aloud.
“Well, that’s simple.” The young girl from earlier was now next to her. Her voice was way too mature for her age. She appeared as if she should be in primary school. Could she even have a level at the age of nine? “For now, you will be assigned to learn combat training. After a few weeks of that, and they figure out your full adaptation list, they will assign target goals for improvement.”
“Who is this girl?” Seta chimed.
“Who are you?” Saeva asked.
“I’m Daisy,” Daisy said. “You know, like the flower. Well, the now extinct flower, but there are enough simulations of them, you should know what they are.”
The girl stood up and walked over to a massive weight room that Saeva only now noticed. It made up a section of floor along the left wall of the training room. And after she disappeared amongst the machinery, Saeva was alone again.
A large, burly old man approached from across the room. He had just left a ridiculously small office, given the scale of the chamber they were in.
“Ms. Hawkins, I expect your best efforts in the coming years.” He began. “I am Instructor Abraham, you can call me Instructor. I won't be too serious all the time, but don’t expect this to feel like a day care.”
“It is nice to meet you,” Saeva replied. “I don’t have any experience in combat. I was preparing for a more scientific role.”
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“Its hard to consider, but that makes my job easier. Easier to sculpt and easier to mold. Saves me the torture of jamming knowledge into your skull against what you already know. I swear,” He said. He gestured with a thumb behind him. “These trainees, heck, half of them act half their age. Coming up from families with ties to the agency. Loaded with preconceptions. They are apprentices and deadbeats, a good, even mix of both. You, however are the first we have from one of the academies. Not many choose this path.”
He paused for a moment, staring into space. He was checking over Saeva's information sheet. “Well, you at least have the minimum required physical fitness, given that you are a level negative.” He said.
The room went silent. The only sound was the turbine slowing down. Mid-action, they all looked at Saeva. There was a mix of reactions: raised eyebrows, agape jaws, and one man who was glaring
“I said get back to training, dammit!” Instructor exclaimed. “This ain’t a stage show.”
Everyone except the tan man with glaring eyes went back to what they were doing. However, the vibe had shifted a little more hostile. Saeva could hear murmurs throughout the room. She ignored them, knowing that Seta could have allowed her to hear exactly what was being said.
“As I was saying.” Instructor's voice was a little more polite than before. “You have the minimum physical fitness, so we will start you with spars today. Everyone will be made aware of your lack of ability, and we will walk you through the general combat moves step by step. However, you need to experience everything, including the pain first had. It's painful to fight. Whether you are the one receiving or throwing them out.”
Saeva was used to the treatment she received once people knew of her status. It was rare she told anyone, but once someone knew, the gossip spread on its own like wildfire. She had grown accustomed to dirty looks and shady gestures. So she just focused up and knew this was her chance to get past the general sentiment of her society. She needed to show them that even if she was a Level -I she could hold her own.
Between the events during the day of the exam and the increasing appearances of Level III adaptations, Saeva knew her time was coming.
“I will let our best fighter sort you out today.” Instructor said. “Jonathan!”
She was shocked to see that the tan boy who had been glaring at her for the past few minutes was the one who came over.
“Do I have to?” Jonathan said as he approached. He had a sneer in his words.
“Yes. We have to service everyone in this society, abled or not.” Instructor said. “You'd better shelve whatever thoughts you are harboring, or you will find yourself out on your keister. Now you have plasma abilities, and lack any strength or extraordinary level III adaptations. You are the perfect opponent for her. Abilities aside, you will have comparable effects within hand-to-hand combat.”
“I’m not like her,” Jonathan said. His sneer grew more hostile, the words causing some sort of damage to his pride.
“I’ll make it easier for you, young man. Either teach her, or you will find yourself deep down below this city tonight. Being kicked out of the AAL means you don’t have a future.”
“Oh, I’ll do it,” Jonathan said. His eyes did not show his change of heart.
“Good. You can go to the arena near the hallway. I’ll make sure the others' activities won't get too near you.”
Jonathan and Saeva walked over to the open arena near the floor-to-ceiling windows of the small hallway that adjoined the room. Jonathan reluctantly showed her the basic moves and principles. After a few hours, he recommended she spar with him to get a good understanding of it all.
“Are you sure you should?” Seta said. “I mean, even if he’s mellowed out a bit, that gleam in his eye is giving red flags. I think he fed us slightly off moves; they don't align with the martial arts he was using.”
“Seta, set parameters to defense beta three,” Saeva said.
“What did you say?” Jonathan asked.
“Oh, that wasn’t for you.” Saeva lowered herself into the combat stance they had been working on for the past hour.
“Are you sure this level of force is necessary?” Seta asked. “Just be careful.”
“I have to bridge the gap somehow,” Saeva said aloud.
“You can’t bridge this gap on day one." Jonathan seethed. "What do you think you are? Nulls aren’t something special. In fact, you are human. What we used to be as a species. Left to be a walking reminder-”
“I’m filtering this guy out for a minute,” Seta said. “He’s annoying.”
“Okay, can we just get on with it?” Saeva said. More to her AI than to the boy in front of her.
Without response, he lunged for her. She reacted barely in time, jumping back as the sideways slice of his hand whizzed past her nose.
“I detected plasma eruptions from the back of his hand.” Seta chimed in.
Saeva tried to duck and roll as they had trained, but fell, flipping feebly onto her back. As she got up slowly, he kicked her legs off from under her.
“That was actually not bad,” Jonathan said. He let her get back to her feet, and they resumed their stances. “More than I expected.”
Saeva quickly stepped forward, the augmentations in her legs hurtling her towards her opponent within a single movement. Normally, people with augmentations could only do so much, but with the integration of Seta throughout her body, Saeva had a slight boost in their usability. Instead of clunking around, only using the enhancements as support to bridge the gap of power, she was able to channel every bit of energy into her normal movements. Nanites fired within her form, propelling her with inhuman force.
She landed a hit as Jonathan had not expected her to be so fast. Her palm slammed right into his cheek. The smack resounded throughout the room. He stumbled back, his neck red, everyone now focused on the duo's fight. Jonathan's face flushed red. Anger poured off of him as plasma flared around him before dying out.
“All you did was smack him,” Seta said.
In moments, he was back upon her. She dodged without fluidity, surviving solely on the calculations of Seta. Saeva was stuck on her back foot, lacking the actual combat experience and skills to make use of her augmented capabilities. She felt Jonathan getting more and more frustrated as he missed her time after time. He started to use parts of the martial arts he hadn’t shown her. Sliding and flipping around, his jabs coming from more and more unpredictable angles.
In a burst, his elbow lit with plasma as he locked his arm back. Saeva tried to dodge, but her back hit the concrete wall, hard. She had nowhere to go; their fight had drifted a good way away from where it had started. From the brief impact, she felt pain radiate from her skull and down her spine. As his fist accelerated, a shield manifested in front of Saeva.
It was transparent and bright, as if sunlight had coalesced and solidified. She wasn’t entirely blinded by the brightness, although she was sure that if this had appeared in front of her a week ago, she would not have been able to see until she visited a doctor.
She watched as Jonathan’s fist slammed into the shield. His face lit up with pain. Then, as if she had always been standing there, Mel flashed into existence.
“Jonathan, that could have killed her,” Mel said. She dissipated the construct.
“You saw her. She has to have augmentations. At best, she would have just gone to the infirmary.” Jonathan replied. The two were nose to nose.
“It doesn’t matter. You need to back off. I'll take care of her training from here on out.”
“That is enough, Ms. Baker.” Instructor said appearing out of his office. “I am under the impression that Ms. Hawkins here would have made it through, even if a little scratched. Still, it was a learning opportunity. Mr. Holloway, be aware that the entire reason you got here was due to your father's reputation amongst the upper parts of this city. And your behavior, even if excused by the norms of our society, will not reflect favorably on him.”
“She’s a null, what use will she even be if she can't stand up to people as weak as me. I’ve only been here a few months. She needs powers!” Jonathan replied. He panted, sweat pouring down his face.
“That is not for you to decide.” Instructor said. He turned to Mel. “Thank you, Ms. Baker. While pain is the best teacher, I agree that you will handle all future training with Ms. Hawkins here. Please be more careful than your fellow trainee. Mr. Holloway, go back to what your regiment says.”
“He isn’t even going to acknowledge you?” Seta said after both men had walked away.
“I don’t know why he didn’t. But he clearly doesn’t harbor ill will if he knew I was a null and was polite to me.” Saeva said.
“Um. Who are you talking to?” Mel said. She gave Saeva a skeptical look.
“Oh, sorry. Seta, can you project yourself so our new friend here can see you?”
In a glittering of light, a starry nebula appeared. The lights flickered at random from star to star, forming an ever-changing constellation in the shape of a serious emoji. Two horizontal eyes and one line for the mouth surrounded by a myriad of stars.
“That is pretty wicked,” Mel said. “Also, even though that was your first fight, you did amazing out there. The way you kept dodging him. I mean, it wasn’t the cleanest of dodges, and you looked absolutely ridiculous out there. But still, to be able to avoid a lot of hits, that’s pretty considerable if you are a null.”
“You seem like you are okay with that idea,” Saeva replied. Her voice imperceptibly wavered, “Not everyone wants to keep talking to me when they find out my level.”
“Nonsense,” Mel replied. “I had a great uncle who was a null. Funniest guy I ever met. But you must be modded to the nines if you even survived against him. He wasn’t using his powers entirely at first, but towards the end, he definitely was using them to produce more strength and speed. And still he only caught you cause you hit a wall.”
“She has some upgrades,” Seta said. Saeva swore the cloud of stars smirked even though the face didn't budge. “I designed them myself. She can survive a deadly encounter for the most part. Not sure if she is up for the cataclysmic category, if the earthquake incident wasn’t a sure enough tell.”
“You mean that big earthquake that shook the city?” Mel asked. “Were you one of the two assailants. Is that why they let you join even though you don’t have any levels?”
“No,” Seta replied. “She was taking her AAL practical examination in a sub-basement of the academy. There were explosions caused by the said event; I’m sure it was some ability. But she was injured in the collapsing wreckage. I had to do so much work to keep her alive. And yet I never got a thank you.”
The cloud of stars motionlessly glared at Saeva. The girl, on the receiving end, slumped.
“So much had happened,” Saeva said. “Thank you. Sorry, I didn’t say so sooner.”
“You'd better be sorry. While you were unconscious, I had to hack into the school's systems and order an ambulance call. Then I had to find a hospital that would take you. All while performing emergency triage. And on top of that, I was awake for the entire week. Including the sleep for the past day.”
“Hey, I said sorry,” Saeva replied.
“Guys. I'm still here.” Mel said. She waved her hand in front of Saeva's eyes. “And what exactly is this cloud? Some sort of AI? I didn’t think they were sentient yet.”
“Don't compare me to those others,” Seta chimed, the lights brightening aggressively in rapid patterns.
“We don’t know where she comes from. Most AIs aren’t even near her level of capability. Even the Automata need regular programming maintenance and input. Seta is something based on me, we think, but she has other personality tendencies to be more than just a copy of my mind.”
“You don’t know? Don’t these things have like info sections?” Mel asked.
“Well, as I said, she’s different. She’s a neural network like most AIs, but some magnitudes of sophistication make her something more at the same time. I don't know, I think my parents may have made her, but after eighteen years of having something, you get used to it.”
“You don't know if your parents made her? Or where she comes from?” Mel asked after a moment.
"No," Saeva said. "I don't actually know my parents. I only have my foster mom, who has been off-world for the past few weeks, dealing with something from work. I've had Seta since I was born. Shes been my friend all of my life."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Mel said. Her voice somehow adopted an even more sorrowful quality. “Hopefully me and you can get along better than that halfwit.”
The duo watched as Jonathan was sparring with the two others from before.
"You and me both."