Sanctify

In his black gear and clothes, with all of his weapons concealed, Hayden prepared his bag for his travels and turned when Dr. E entered with some papers and files. “You’ll need to brief her on what she will see. She’s never visited me here. As far as she’s concerned, I’m at a facility in Norway conducting experiments on sheep,” Dr. E smiled.

Hayden nodded and packed the papers and files. “Is there anything you want me to tell her, just in case?” he asked, secure the bag on his back.

Dr. E shook her head, “Everything is in the files. All she needs to know to send her here with you. Trust me on that,” she added, rolling up her sleeves to reveal white material under her clothes.

Hayden smiled, “I recognize the white layer over their skin. It helps the skin breathe, right?” he asked.

Dr. E nodded, “Yes. It was the most formidable substance that wouldn’t rot or suffocate the skin as they sleep in the climatically controlled capsules. Everything is controlled and beautifully so.” Dr. E touched the material fondly, loving the feel on her skin.

Hayden felt a strange shiver pass through him and mumbled, “Did it just get colder in here?”

Dr. E froze and slowly turned to Hayden, “What did you just say?”

Hayden repeated, “It just got colder –” and then looked up. A strange rumble, like a hum, buzzed through the ground and walls. To the untrained ear, it was less than noticeable, but in the silence of the space, it was more than silent.

Eyes wide, Dr. E swallowed and gasped, “Jenna.”

Hayden looked at the door and Dr. E ran from the room, Hayden on her heels. Both knew the sound and recognized the vacuum sound of a capsule preparing to open. Able to keep up but not wanting to out run her, Hayden shouted, “What’s the likelihood this was anticipated?”

Panting, Dr. E replied, “None! Most Shadows show little affinity for their Origins. The only ones who ever did were from the original programs! Unfortunately, Noriko is in that category!” she added, turning to fly down the stairs. Horror crossed both their faces as they saw Jenna watching with a frown. Dr. E demanded, “What did you do?”

Jenna shouted back, “I put the Blackphone back into the holder and then it lit up!”

Dr. E’s eyes widened as her eyes noticed the phone’s face lighting up and flashing as information travelled into the capsule. “Did you turn off the signal?!” she shouted, jumping forward, pushing Jenna out of the way.

Hayden peered into the capsule and noticed the light change from the usual soft blue to a brighter white. “Doc! She’s waking up!” he shouted, watching the eyes under the eyelids move and the chest rise in breathing deeper and faster. Was it excitement or fear? Hayden surprised himself.

Dr. E attempted to pull the phone from the mount but it didn’t budge. In a last ditch effort, she smashed into the phone with her elbow, but it didn’t break, though the face did crack a bit. “It’s too early! She has 10 more years left! Waking her now is dangerous!” she shouted to everyone and no one.

Jenna watched the capsule move so that her Origin was lying down. It also dropped to just above the floor and when it stopped, the vacuuming sound stopped, as did the beeps and clinks of mechanic movement. When all was still, Hayden moved to stand next to Dr. E. “What now?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Dr. E sighed and replied, no too much louder, “If she doesn’t wake up, then we may be able to induce another 10 years of sleep into her. That would be the best scenario,” she added, squatting down to peer into the glass capsule. “Her skin has yet to touch oxygen, and the capsule will not open unless I authorize it.”

Jenna swallowed, noting the gentle swell of rise in Noriko’s chest. Her eyes dilated as a sentimental emotion flowed through her. She hadn’t intended to wake her up but something pushed her to put the phone in the holder. Something outlandishly familiar simply drew her to the idea and moved her to do it. It went beyond reasoning but; Jenna could have sworn that Noriko had pushed her to.

Dr. E peered close to note the changes, writing them down quickly in the strange glyphs that Hayden recognized as the old system of encrypted writing. He wondered if she knew what had happened since she was sent down to oversee the capsules. “Looks like she’s not waking up. I can still put her into a coma so –” She froze.

Hayden stepped to the other side of the capsule and peered in. Jenna also snapped to attention, a slight movement had caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She whispered, “What was that?”

With all three looking on at her, Noriko opened her mouth wide and gasped for air, her body arching upwards, off of the bedding. Dr. E tried to navigate through the cracked screen of the phone to open the capsule but the damage was done. Noriko’s hands pushed forward, scraping at the glass, Dr. E screamed, “She’s suffocating!”

Hayden grabbed the nearest piece of metal from around him. “Stand back!” he shouted and raised it above his head. Jenna pulled Dr. E to her and jumped aside as Hayden smashed into the glass at Noriko’s feet. The first hit only nicked it. The second cracked the glass further. With a sideways swipe at it, he shattered the glass at her feet at such an angle that would not harm her. The moment fresh air passed through Noriko, she panted and shifted as her body relaxed.

Hayden dropped the metal rod and pushed at the glass, sliding it off of the capsule. Noriko was silent as she panted, her eyes still unopened. Dr. E stepped forward and checked her vitals before she leaned forward and whispered, “Welcome back, Nox.”

Michel was put in his room and locked in. Without much to go on, he only knew something had, somewhat, happened. One moment, he had been observing the intricate wiring that went in to Uncle’s prisoner, and then all screens blinked red as firewalls fell and something shot through, out into cyberspace. It had happened so suddenly; Michel found it beautiful at first. And then Rayner was shoving him out of the room as Uncle shouted for the security system to put up walls to barricade her in. Apparently, something had returned and caused his prisoner to move, which set Uncle into a frenzied state.

Michel froze as he remembered Diane’s gaze and the animosity behind those beautiful brown eyes. Recognition and fear were behind them. Something unseen but felt. Michel sat down and felt cold. “That was Diem, Diane,” he whispered, thinking back to the cyber attacks and the way the screens reacted when she dropped the firewalls keeping her barricaded in. And the one controlling her, the one who was around during that time, too, was Sanctus.

Michel jumped to his feet and hurried to the window. He peered outside, looking for a sign; any sign, that there had been another cyber attack and waited. He watched cars in the distance, people walking obliviously, and then he narrowed his eyes, seeing a helicopter zoom overhead. That was the sign.

Michel hurried to the nearest outlet on the wall that had another room on the other side. He listed as he tapped the walls, searching for a wire. He’d noticed quite a few in that room and knew that, the only way he would figure out what was going on was to make it happen himself. He needed to get on to the network and search for Jenna. With any luck, she would be searching for him, too. The sudden thought of Jenna made Michel pause.

He longed for her.

When Dr. E realized Noriko would remain awake, she had the capsule moved to the side, where she hooked it up to the mainframe and helped Noriko return to a functional state of life. As the minutes ticked by, she watched as a slight pink returned to Noriko’s pale face. She had put a needle in to her arm and watched as consciousness returned to her.

Dr. E looked over her charts and frowned. Noriko’s waking had been ten years early, which meant she had only aged two years under the preservation of Dr. Egas senior, Evelyn’s father. The last ten would have brought Noriko to four years, but under the circumstances, nothing could be done about it. Dr. E sighed and called Hayden in. Jenna was on his heels and she stopped near the head of Noriko, her eyes staring into the younger face of her own.

Hayden frowned, “What’s up, doc? Should I go now or you want something first?”

Dr. E ignored his question and asked, “Was there a cyber attack?”

Hayden nodded, “Yes, and it came from the Towers. This one was violent and very much more aggressive than the rest. It took a moment to contain it,” he added, pulling up a map of Los Angeles and switching it to the electrical grid with the cyber activity map overlaid. “It took the same path as the rest and then it was gone, like the rest, within moments. The police scanners went crazy as systems jumped, but it’s clearly getting worse.”

Jenna felt her insides quell with emotion as she interpreted, “They’re looking for her.” Jenna met Dr. E’s eyes and added, “It has to be Diem looking for Nox.”

Dr. E went very still, her eyes looking over Jenna, and then she asked, “Nox? How do you know that handle?” she added, her hands gripping the pen.

Jenna shrugged, “Nox and Diem built the Haven that Sanctus was locked out of, right? It was in a file we had,” she added, nodding to Hayden.

Dr. E swallowed and, in a much smaller voice, she inquired, “And what do you know about Nox?”

To this, Jenna shrugged and walked closer to the other two, “Not much. A hacker who was pretty awesome and disappeared a long time ago, but whose presence lingers with the mystery and whispers about the Haven.”

“Haven,” came a murmur none of the three made and all eyes turned to see Noriko’s lips slightly parted.

Dr. E hurried over and checked her body once before she sighed and brushed Noriko’s face with her hands. “Are you awake now?” she asked, very gently. From the depths of Hayden’s consciousness, something stirred with that still small voice.

Noriko opened her eyes to find herself on the lush green lawns of the Dane-Hawkins estate, a mere recurring dream she often had. This time, however, she watched a handsome young man and a lovely young woman laugh and play with a very young girl Noriko recognized as herself.

Noriko felt her memories play tricks on her as she approached them. When she sat down with them, she heard their conversation. Her younger self had grown tired and laid down to sleep.

The man sighed and stated, “She’s grown so much. These past four years have been amazing.”

And then the woman stated, “But she has to leave. If TriVerse ever found out what we did, they would take her away.”

The man nodded, “I guess that’s the price we have to pay for being curious.”

And the woman nodded, “We can see her again when we figure things out. For now, it’s just easier to let her fall into the public system.”

“Wesley Dane and Maria Hawkins, so the rumors are true,” came a voice from behind Noriko. She turned to see a man standing there, blurred but audibly clear, “you had a baby and it’s a girl.”

Wesley stood and stepped between Maria and the man, “What are you doing here, Jordy?”

Before the man could answer, the scene blurred and Noriko felt herself falling away from the world. She tried to reach out and grab something but then everything changed, and she was with her friends again. She laughed with Diane as Mavis and Topher played some distance away.