💾 Archived View for lantashifiles.com › writing › hybridShadows › chapters › chapter03 › scene01.gmi captured on 2024-08-31 at 11:38:35. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2024-08-18)
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Captain Leonard McKnight entered the holding cell, followed by a security officer. He was in a full uniform now, in a show of authority as he talked to the young lady waiting within. There she was, a girl in her late teens. She was small of stature, though he couldn't tell her exact height as she was held to the table and chair in front of her by magnetic energy bonds. She had long black hair, and a delicate face, skin as tan as dark clay. The hair was beautiful but currently very disheveled.
The girl seemed very nervous, looking from the captain to the security guard, and back again. A special fear entered her eyes every time she looked at the guard. McKnight wondered if there was anything that the guard might have done that was inappropriate. The captain fired off a process to scan the guards memories and report back any illegal activity. Such a scan would take several minutes to be thorough, time the captain didn’t want to waste. He dismissed the guard with another thought, and then came to sit in the chair across the table from the young lady.
As the guard left, the young lady visibly relaxed. She didn’t seem nearly as nervous with the captain as she had with the guard, despite the captain being a much taller, larger man, of much higher rank. He pulled the chair out, sitting down slowly. He knew that she had no link to the Song, and wished to scare her as little as possible. Still, he kept his gaze constantly on her, watching for anything he could learn from her expressions. Executing a silent command, he looked at her hands, and released her energy bonds. He then looked back up at her face, and gave her a small smile.
"Hello, Kendra," he said gently. "My name is Leonard McKnight. I am the captain of this vessel." He smiled trying to put her at ease.
"I know who you are," she answered, quietly, but with some obvious distaste in her voice. "We studied you and your family in our social sciences class."
"All the others are frustrated that they have to talk aloud to learn about me," Kendra said. "They prefer to just read my file. It only takes them a few seconds."
"I actually prefer talking out loud, though it is not real popular in our small civilization."
"Why?"
McKnight shrugged. "You learn things about people when you hear their voice, when you see them move, things that they themselves may not even know about themselves. Things that are not included in the song, or broadcast on the grid."
"So it is another way to spy on us?"
"Spy?" Captain McKnight was taken aback some. Everyone knew almost everything aboard the colony vessel, and down on the ground. But the captain supposed that to those who were not included in the Song, the regular way all the people aboard knew each other may seem like spying.
"Yes, spy," Kendra answered, her voice a mixture of fear and defiance. "You always want to know everything about everyone. Most people get very angry at me that they cannot just scan me, but I don’t know what gives them the right to know my thoughts anyways."
McKnight made a silent reminder to research this attitude in his spare time, and to have an investigation begun to see if that thought was shared among other crew and colonists.
"How long am I going to be locked up?"
"I don’t wish to lock you up at all."
"I am already locked up."
"Not by my order."
"Then what do you want from me?"
Captain pauses for a full two minutes before continuing.
"I need your help."
"For what? I have been pretty much useless to the colony for my entire life. Why do you want my help now?"
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"Because you can see the shadows..."
Kendra's look went from one of defiance, to confusion, to fear. Her hands started to shake. She removed them from the top of the table and onto her lap.
"How do you know about that? I don’t talk about them."
"You did when you were younger."
"But no one believed me then. I was given counseling, and drugs to take care of my psychological condition." She emphasized the last two words, evidently uncomfortable with the memories that were awoken.
"And yet, they are there. Everyone who accesses your files on the grid can see them."
Kendra bit her lower lip, now very uncertain of herself, uncertain of how to proceed. She looked like she was caught in a trap. Was she going to be locked in a psychological ward, put into jail, disposed of? Captain McKnight figured that all these things were running through her head.
After a few minutes, Kendra looked back up at the captain, straight into his eyes.
"When I was young, they said I was psychotic. I was given medicines to cure me of what I saw and hear. But... but you believe me, don't you?"
"Believe you?" the captain asked. "I don’t believe you. I know you really sense things the rest of us cannot."
"Why?"
"I knew your mother, Kendra. I knew Jacinta."
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