Two days was enough to turn Ayna’s already chaotic world into something she couldn’t even recognize. Kaiban had been surprisingly congenial about the Blight implant. So, too, had his husband. They approached Ayna, asking for Jahwo to be a second trial. He was Terran, and so he fit perfectly into the experiment that Hunt was designing. Although they had been pleasant with her, Ayna saw the desperation within them. It had been easy to see that they hoped the crystals would prove powerful, and that the two of them could use that power. Likely to escape, then to bring Ayna down. Of course, Kaiban had no idea about the purification protocols she had made Hunt put together. If any test subject displayed powers they couldn’t control, the testing chamber would be incinerated. Consequently, she agreed to their request.
Jahwo was implanted the day after Kaiban. They were both moved to the first testing chamber that was constructed. Ayna brought in some basic items from her home and moved them into the apartment she had put together for the couple. She was going to be spending a lot more time at the lab.
Teams were working on the Nagata, pulling more of her paneling apart to bring it into the lab. It was the only material available to them that would be able to contain the fire, if they needed to enact security measures. Inside the constructed rooms, a smaller containment chamber was built with the thick glass windows that were left from the generation ship. They would allow one of the science team to enter and speak with the subjects while being a little protected from the purification process. Within each living chamber, they placed a series of eight LightTabs locked down to have a constant video and audio feed from the room. Ayna hoped they didn’t have to use the purification protocols. Losing subjects would be hard, but eight LightTabs were nearly irreplaceable. It would take weeks to scavenge up parts to build new ones, assuming the Ditch even had enough working parts to piece together.
Her prisoners were marked to come to the labs once the containers were constructed. She had picked two more Illara, another Terran and an Inari. She had thought about approaching Kingston and taking him up on his offer, but she feared his casters would talk to him about what she was doing, and Kingston would never agree to locking them up at the U Labs.
So for now, construction raged on as Hunt and his team kept a close eye on Kaiban and Jahwo. Despite their insistence that they were recovering well and not experiencing anything new or strange, Hunt had made pages of notes on their behavior. Ayna read the report as he updated it on the private lab server as she watched the team scurrying around below the balcony of the second floor.
Kaiban seemed to find the entire world, or what he could see of it from the cell, absolutely fascinating. He would point things out to his husband, like how the reinforced metal wove together like a tapestry once you could see all the connections. Jahwo seemed to accept his statements as obvious, while Hunt and his team zoomed the cameras in on the metalwork, then declared him insane. It wasn’t until Tabitha came in for the evening watch that his statements started to make a very small amount of sense. She zoomed in on the latticed metal, took a snap, then started drawing all the patterns the craftwork made by tracing over the photo with a handful of contrasting colors. When she was done, the metal Wall had been transformed into a pile of multi-colored threads, all flowing like water from an origin point in the center.
“He’s not crazy,” she said, almost with disdain, as she shoved her LightTab into Hunt’s hands.
He looked at the photo, “If he’s seeing this everywhere, he might be.”
Tabitha just laughed in response, “Maybe someone put some bad mushrooms in his lunch—or some fantastic ones.”
Hunt looked at her, confusion written across his face.
God, was he ever normal?
Although they all seemed most interested in Kaiban’s erratic behavior, Ayna found herself more interested in Jahwo. He remained calm and spent the past two days silting on the bed in the room. Occasionally, he would tip his head, as if trying to hear something, even when Kaiban was not speaking. He seemed to react whenever someone entered the containment chamber. She appeared to be listening to them, beyond their silence.
Ayna sent a note to Hunt suggesting both subjects go through auditory and visual stimulation tests. He responded instantly, “We’ll start with that in the morning.”
* * *
Ayna pushed herself up out of the bed in her lab apartment. She ached all over. Her back seized up tight as she went to stand. She fell back down to a silting position.
I will need a new mattress in here.
It was a miracle that Jahwo hadn’t complained about this thing. It was so bad, Ayna suspected she might sleep better on the floor. She took a deep breath and pushed off the bed, groaning as she straightened her back to stand upright. She twisted in a stiff motion, grabbing her jacket off the back of the tufted chair next to the bed. She slid it on, fighting to keep her back straight as she glared out her pain at the rips in the chair’s upholstery, where chunks of stuffing poked out.
It was getting late--she’d have to skip the trip to the kitchen and head down to the lab.
As she made her way to the platform, she noticed a stack of paintings. Tabitha fluttered over them like a protective mother. Ayna stepped up next to her, peering down at the first painting. The painting was of Prin, with the Nagata featured prominently at sunset. The splash of orange and purple hues reflecting off the Nagata’s hull that remained, with the light filtering through the ripped off sections. The shadows and buildings of Prin were all cast in a deep, saturated blue. It was stunning.
“Is this your work, Tabitha?”
Tabitha looked at Ayna with surprise. “Yes, uh—I told them it was just my private art collection—please, don’t tell them. It’s hard enough being the only girl on the team without being judged for my non-scientific pass-times.”
Ayna looked again at the painting and pulled it forward to reveal the next painting stacked behind it. It was a beautiful rendering of the source trees. “They’d be foolish to judge you. These are phenomenal. But, I know the feeling; I won’t say a word.”
Tabitha smiled at her, then stepped away, giving Ayna a moment to look at the other three paintings that remained.
Hunt walked up, glancing at the last piece of artwork as Ayna admired it. “Surprising she wasted money on them,” He said, with a little too much volume. Ayna heard Tabitha suck in her breath behind her.
“I don’t know what she paid for them, but I’d happily double it to take the collection back to my home.”
Hunt rolled his eyes, reaching over to grab the painting at the front. He jerked it into his hands without looking at it and started towards the cell that contained Kaiban and Jahwo. “I want both of you taking notes.” He ordered Tabitha and the other assistant. Kased?, she thought.
She walked behind them as they all approached the cage. They opened the first set of doors and Hunt stepped through, up to the inner tempered glass doors. He opened the food slot and, with a distinct lack of ceremony, shoved the painting through the hole. It scraped the edges, and Ayna winced. She sidled up next to Tabitha, who had retreated from the door to inspect what was happening to her work through the LightTab cameras. “I wasn’t joking about buying them. Even after Hunt’s rough handling, they are amazing. I think they’d go well in my office—actually. A reminder of what I am serving.”
Tabitha offered a weak smile, “I’ll think about.” She had moved her face inches away from the oversized display panels, scrutinizing the painting.
Hunt and Kased closed the outer doors and came to the panel. Hunt tapped the icon that would allow him to speak into the room. “Describe the painting to me. Kaiban first.”
Kaiban was already holding it, running his fingers over it, causing Tabitha a great deal of discomfort. “Amazing. The light, the buildings, the connections between them—so vibrant. Captured as perfectly as any simple Terran could.”
Simple Terran?
Jahwo stepped up next to Kaiban. He remained silent, but reached out and touched the painting, closing his eyes.
“Well, what do you see, Jahwo?” Hunt interrupted her as he swayed in time with the movements of his hands across the dried colors.
His eyes snapped open and he looked directly at the LightTab above him, the one Hunt was focused on. “I see everything.” He turned his head to look into another LightTab; the one that Tabitha was viewing. “I see heartbreak. Loneliness. A lost love? No... a brother. Gone. Painted from the rocks on the outskirts, you would sit on with him and talk for hours. Your only real friend.”
Tabitha sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. Ayna glanced at her. A single tear ran down Tabitha’s cheek as she fought back more.