"Do you see anything down there?"
"Hang on it's really dark...come over here with the flashlight. Peter there is a door over here!" Peter made his way through the fallen remains of old crumbling walls over to the door.
"That's strange...the door still looks like new." Peter brushed his fingers over the metal door that stood out so drastically from the rest of their surroundings. "Bring the light over here Cate I think there is an access panel." Cate shone the light on a small box covered with buttons beside the door.
"Do you think you can open it Peter?"
"Hmm...I don't think I can figure out the code but I might be able to rewire the box so the door opens. Hold the light steady so I can see what I'm doing." Peter pulled a small case of tools from his pack and chose a couple of instruments from the case. He carefully popped the keypad off the box to expose the wires. After poking around in the box for a few minutes and rearranging some wires there was a small audible beep and a whoosh as the door slid open. Cate moved the light so it shone into the room on the other side of the door but Peter stopped her before she stepped through the door.
"What? I want to see what is inside." Cate said hotly.
"Hang on wait for it to air out a little...who knows how long this place has been closed up. The air might be polluted. Peter pointed out.
"It can't be any worse than the air we breathe on a regular basis." Cate replied as she crossed the threshold and entered the dark room beyond.
The room was filled with the low hum of computer equipment that was still blinking in the vast darkness. There were lab tables set up with odd instruments and containers strewn all over them but they were a pale comparison to the faint green glow coming from the middle of the large enclosure. Cate gaped in awe as she looked around the room "P-p-p-peter..." she managed to stammer when she looked up into the green glowing chamber at its contents. There was a translucent green liquid surrounding the body of a human girl. She was floating in the fetal position, her hair cocooning her as she slept. "Do you think she is still alive?" Cate asked as she placed a hand on the glass surface of the large container. "Another question is how long has she been here?" Peter replied. "Look at this place; there is no dust, no evidence that time has even touched this room."
"Nine..." Cate murmured as she traced the Roman numeral that was etched into a metal plate attached to the tank.
A voice called to me...I heard it outside the darkness...different than the others...
"Peter I think she moved!" Cate cried as she took a step back.
"That's impossible...she can't still be alive." Just after the words left Peter's lips he hard a loud beep...beep...beep from the instruments in the room.
Is it time for me to wake-up? I slowly opened my eyes. Things were different than the last time, the darkness spread around the room and different figures were there. My heart thundered in my chest and felt like it was going to escape from behind my ribs. I wanted out...it was the first time since before I could remember that I had such a strong feeling of need and want. I felt the blood pump through my cold and motionless body, bringing life and
warmth it. I flexed my fingers and felt them move; at this realization I smiled and moved my hand to rest against the smooth surface that was the wall of my watery prison.
"Peter! We need to do something!" Cate cried as she searched the chamber for a button or a switch that would open it.
"Hang on let me look at what is on these computers. I might be able to open it from there." Peter went over to the closest console and started pressing buttons on the keyboard, his hands moving at lightning speed from experience. Text and pictures fired across the screen as Peter read through the information that was held within the machine. He slowed until his hands hovered poised above the keyboard as he read the document on the screen and re-read it to make sure he was reading it right.
"Cate you should see this..." Peter managed to say as he kept reading. When Cate came up beside him he scrolled back to the beginning of the document. "They were doing illegal scientific testing here. This poor girl was one of their human test rats." Peter scrolled down so Cate could keep reading. "The born experiments all died so they started kidnapping children?!" Cate looked over her shoulder. "But the date on this entry is from over fifty years ago...it's not possible that this girl is one of those missing children."
"Under the circumstances this room shouldn't even exist anymore." Peter resumed his typing as he looked for a way to open the water filled chamber.
I saw them just like the creatures clad in white; pressing buttons and looking at a screen that was flashing, casting lights on their faces. I did not want to remember what they did to me. I did not want to feel the pain again. Images filled my head, looking up at a harsh light, feeling cold hard metal at my back. There were strange instruments that poked and prodded me, strange mixtures I was forced to drink. There was a sudden roar in my head and my hands started to hurt and it was only then that I was ripped away from the memory and realized that I was screaming and trying to escape by pounding my fists on the invisible walls of this god forsaken prison.
"Peter hurry! She's going to hurt herself, we need to get her out of there!" Cate screamed as she flailed her arms helplessly.
"Just one more minute, I almost got it.... there!" An air raid siren sounded and there was a loud swish of air followed by the sound of water falling in a great torrent to the floor.
I could feel the gravity pull me to the ground as the watery liquid slid away from my skin to pool on the floor under me. My lungs burned for fresh air and my head swam with the suddenness of my fall. I felt my skin cool as the air-dried it; my body shook and convulsed on the floor as I tried to breath and keep myself warm at the same time. I felt something cover my skin as someone knelt beside me and whispered soothing words in my ear. It helped calm my heartbeat but my body still shivered with exhaustion.
"It's ok you're safe now..." Cate soothed the naked and fragile girl shivering on the cold, hard floor. "Can you walk?"
"w-w-w-w-a-lk?" I was surprised by the quiet raspy sounds that stuttered past my lips. It had been so long since the last time I had communicated with another.... person that I wasn't sure I still could. I also remembered that I could walk at one point but I hadn't moved in so long that I doubted my body could hold its own weight let alone walk. I gave a small shake of my head in answer and huddled myself tighter to the cloth that was given to me so that I could at least stop shivering.
"Peter...she understands me! I don't think she can walk on her own though and we need to get her someplace warm before she freezes to death." The female said as she tried to rub warmth into my frozen limbs.
It was so sudden that I didn't know what to do...the female person touched my arm and when she did I felt a warm tingle along my skin. I jerked away from her in fear clutching the cloth so hard it hurt my fingers.
"It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Cate...and this is Peter." Cate gestured over to Peter who was walking slowly over towards us. "We are going to take you somewhere safe."
Peter slowly bent over and helped me to my feet...I wobbled and then sank back down to the floor unable even to stand on my own. "We are going to have to support her Cate...can you do that and hold the flashlight?" Peter finally got me upright again and slipped his arm around my cool naked waist to help support my weight.
"I got it Pete..." Cate moved over to my other side and the three of us slowly made our way out of the dark room that was untouched by time and through the tunnels that were crumbling and had pieces of the walls scattered all over the floor. I was panting and shaking by the time we made our way to the entrance of the old stone building. "It's not far now." Peter promised. "Then you can rest for a bit." The three of us walked out into the sun of the late afternoon and a whimper escaped my lips as the sun burned my eyes. I quickly buried my head in Peter's shoulder to hide my eyes from the harsh light of the sun's rays.
I could feel freedom so close as these strange people helped me leave my prison behind. The air was cool and a little damp even with the sun glaring down at us. Willing my limbs to move properly took a lot out of me and I didn't know how much farther I could go even when these people whispered reassuring words in my ear. Then I saw it, as I peeked out from Peter's arm. It was a so bright that I had to squint to see my surroundings. This was part of a life that was fading just beyond my memory. The sun and the wind and the sky...things I knew I had seen before but did not know when. I didn't have the energy to piece together the differences between those old fading memories and the new sky that greeted me when we left that old rotting building.
The strangers continued to pull me along even though I was oh so very tired and by the time they stopped before a strange looking machine even they could no longer support my weight. They opened a door and let me lie down on the soft seat with the covering tucked around me.
"What are we going to do with her?" Cate asked as she tucked Peter's coat around me then gently tucked in my feet so she could shut the back door to the machine.
"Well we can't take her to the hospital or the police. She probably isn't even registered as a citizen...or if she is by all accounts she shouldn't even be alive anymore." Peter replied as he tried to come up with something.
"Well then I guess she is just going to have to come home with us." Cate grinned as she put her gear and flashlight in the trunk then got in the front passenger side of the vehicle. Peter closed the trunk and climbed into the driver seat. He put the key in the ignition, turned it and the vehicle started with a soft hum.
I did not know where I was going but I felt safe for the moment and the warmth from inside the strange machine was starting to penetrate my cold limbs. I felt exhausted like I never had before and wanted nothing more than to sleep, but I was afraid if I did that I might never wake up again. My body won the fight though and the last thing I remembered before my eyes closed and I fell into a deep and restful sleep was the male asking a question to the female.
"What should we call her?" Peter asked as he glanced back at the sleeping form in the back seat.
"Why not call her Nine? It's what was on the tank where we found her." Cate suggested.
"I guess that will do for now but I don't think a number is a very good name for someone." Peter pointed out.