Gaea

Chapter 8

by Baybelletrist

On board Ranger One, Mars City Spaceport

7/30/2098, 0649 BETA Mountain time

Gaea stepped hesitantly aboard Ranger One under Goose's watchful eye. Zach and Niko had already boarded to prep the ship for launch. Doc stood at the hatch, smiling gently.

"Welcome aboard Ranger One, Gaea," he said. "This is GV. He's our onboard AI." He indicated a dataport station in the airlock. The AI's blue and green eyeball icon bobbed in acknowledgement. "GV, this is Gaea. She's sort of a VIP, so take good care of her, all right?"

"How do you do, ma'am?" GV greeted her in his cheerful way. "I look forward to serving you."

Gaea blinked. "Thanks," she mumbled, looking at the deck. "Um—nice to meet you."

Goose touched her elbow, touched by her shyness. "I can show you a place to stow your bag."

"Okay," she answered softly, and Doc's voice floated after them as Goose led her out of the airlock and into a long corridor. "Okay, GV, final prelaunch—" The sound of the familiar ritual faded as they headed aft.

Gaea followed Goose down the corridor to a hatch, which opened into a long compartment with four seats. "Nav Bay," he told her, tipping his head toward the port. She stepped through the hatch, gaze fixed on the rocky Martian landscape.

"Never been outside the dust shields before?" he asked, guessing at the reason for her fascination.

She tore her attention away from the bright vista and looked at him, shaking her head. "It's expensive. I never had the money."

Niko's image blinked onto the screen in front of the forward set of chairs. "Goose, we're ready for takeoff. Are you secure back there?"

"One minute, please, Niko."

"All right, Goose. Countdown starting." The screen went dark.

Goose opened a cargo bin and gestured for Gaea to stow her bag inside. She set it down hesitantly. He shut the bin and showed her how the latch worked.

"You can get it out any time you want as long as we're not taking off or landing, but just remember it's better not to have unsecured stuff lying around on board. We need to strap in now." He gestured toward the forward pair of the four seats. "Take your pick."

She hesitated again, glanced at him and the stations, and then chose the left-hand seat and busied herself with straps and buckles. Goose settled into the station at her right and strapped in with the automatic ease of long practice. He glanced over and saw that she'd fastened the buckles and was fidgeting with the straps. At his look she hastily dropped her hands into her lap and folded them neatly. Sitting very still, she draw a slow breath that quivered audibly. He looked more sharply at her, concern rising again.

"You okay?"

She nodded, refusing to meet his eyes. He searched her face for a moment, but unlike her nervous hands her controlled features offered no hint of her state of mind. Niko's image appeared on the screen again.

"Twenty seconds."

"We're ready, Niko," Goose said. "We sent out the report to Captain Dansky yet?"

Niko's lips twitched as she held back a smile. "Zach just got off the comm with him. I don't think he was satisfied with our explanation, but he agreed to wait for the rest of the information until after we're back at BETA."

Goose caught Niko's glance over at Gaea and noted from the corner of his eye that the girl kept her eyes glued to her lap.

The hatch slid open and Doc stepped through, quickly seated himself behind Gaea, and strapped in.

"Five seconds," Zach's voice came from offscreen. "Doc, you in Nav?"

"Ay-firmative, Captain," came the cheerful answer.

Onscreen, Niko touched a switch. "Mars City Spaceport, we are go for takeoff in three, two, one—"

Liftoff was smooth. Goose reached out and touched the data station keypad, thinking Gaea would enjoy watching the forward view of their ascent, and suddenly the screen switched from Niko's face to a view of the Martian sky, spread above them like vibrant cloth. He smiled gently at her rapt expression as Ranger One flung itself away from the surface of the planet.

Out of the frying pan... Goose sighed, feeling some of the tension draining out of him, and Gaea turned her head curiously. He returned her glance and quirked up one corner of his mouth.

"That much closer to getting you out of this mess," he said quietly.

To his dismay, Gaea's eyes filled suddenly with tears. She blinked furiously, stared down at her lap and shivered. A teardrop plopped softly into her lap, followed closely by another. Shit.

They cleared Mars' atmosphere, and a moment later Goose said quietly over his shoulder, "Doc, would you excuse us?"

Doc paused briefly, looking a little startled, before answering easily, "Sure, my Goose man. No problem." His seat belt clicked, and his gaze, sympathetic and a little sad, rested on Gaea's bowed head as he rose. Goose caught Gaea looking obliquely toward Doc before he stepped through the hatch and it closed behind him. The ship accelerated away from Mars' gravity well, heading for their assigned warp point.

Goose laid a hand on her arm and felt her shivering. "Gaea," he said gently, "what's wrong?"

"I'm scared," she admitted in a small voice.

"I don't blame you. I'd be afraid too. You've been on your own a long time, haven't you?"

"I—"

The hatch hissed open again. Niko stood framed there, hesitant. They both looked up at her, and Gaea hurriedly scrubbed at her face.

"Gaea, I'd like to talk with you," Niko said softly. "You can have Goose here or not, as you like." She stepped into the Nav Bay, and the door hissed shut behind her.

Gaea sniffled and drew a couple of deep breaths to steady her voice. "What about?"

"As you've already discovered, I have psi powers, just as you do. Zachary has asked me to evaluate your abilities so that we can—"

Gaea went rigid, fighting to control her breathing. Compassion flitted across Niko's face.

"—better help you and give a more thorough report to our commander. Are you willing to answer some questions about that?"

Gaea closed her eyes briefly, obviously trying calm herself. Niko moved gracefully across the Nav Bay toward the younger woman and squatted down next to her, waiting until Gaea was ready before speaking again.

"It's all right to be afraid, Gaea," she said. "But you know that none of us will ever hurt you, or let you be hurt if we can possibly help it."

Gaea nodded, and Niko smiled.

"All right, let's rotate your seat so you can face me," she said, suiting actions to words, "and make sure you're comfortable." Goose rotated his own seat to bring it back in line with Gaea's, and Niko flickered a wry look at him before turning her attention back to the girl. "Does anything need adjustment? No? All right." Niko sat opposite Gaea and settled back into the chair. "To save you having to do this again, Gaea, I'd like to record this session."

Gaea tensed again and Niko raised a hand in a placating gesture. "It's just for our commander; he'll want some kind of record of your abilities, and this means you won't have to demonstrate more than once." A half-smile flickered across the older woman's lips.

Gaea took a deep breath and nodded again.

"Thank you, Gaea. GV, begin recording." Niko pulled her handheld computer from her belt and made a notation on it.

"Yes, ma'am," the AI responded.

"Please repeat your name, age, and address, and give consent for this session to be recorded," Niko requested.

Gaea licked her lips. "I'm—my name is Gaea. I don't have a last name, I don't think. Or an address. Now. Um—I'm seventeen years—"

"GV, pause," Niko cut in, looking in dismay over at Goose. "Shane..."

I was expecting this.Goose raised his hands in a shrug. "What are we going to do, Niko, call her mommy?" He winced, realizing what he'd said, and continued, "I don't think 'underage' really applies here."

Niko sat still for a moment before sighing lightly. "GV, resume. Gaea, please state your age again."

"I'm seventeen."

"Legally we are required to have your parent or guardian here unless you have applied for, and been granted, legal adult status."

"Um... I don't—" her voice cracked, steadied— "have any parents, or a guardian. And I've been taking care of myself since I was seven years old, except for Maggie."

"Maggie?" Goose straightened, interest piqued again.

Gaea smiled sadly. "She found me when I was, oh, eleven or twelve, I think. I was living in a ventilation shaft where she worked. I lived on the streets after I ran away. She took care of me so I didn't have to scrounge for food or a place to sleep any more. She called me Lily."

"How can we contact her?" Niko asked. Gaea shook her head.

"She died a few years ago. She was sick for a long time, something to do with the factory where she worked, I think. She taught me to sew." Gaea straightened, and for the first time Goose heard pride in her voice.

"You said you lived on the streets," Niko said. "How did you learn to survive? Most children don't manage well on their own."

Gaea moistened her lips. "I—made people help me," she whispered. "Like... I made the owner of a market like me so she would give me food every morning. And—there were a lot of other kids—" Her voice broke off, and Niko opened her hands in an unspoken Go on.

"I made them tell me—made them want to tell me everything about living on the streets," Gaea continued, "like how to steal food and blankets and... find warm places to sleep and how to spot... bad people. But I knew how to do that part better than any of them could ever hope to." A bitter tone came into her voice for a moment. "They knew a lot more useful things. Like how to pick locks and get fake ID cards. Like that." Her shoulders curled inward. "I did a lot of bad things," she whispered.

"Most homeless children do, to stay alive," Niko answered calmly. "No one's going to hold it against you now. What happened then?"

"Um..." Gaea scrubbed a sleeve across her face and visibly composed herself. "Then I found the ventilation shaft when I was... I'm not sure, nine? And I lived in it until Maggie found me."

"And what did you do after she died?" Niko asked. Gaea met her eyes.

"I got fake papers and went to Mars. I didn't have any money so I made a courier ship's pilot think I was another courier and he let me ride there with him. And then I took care of myself. I got a job—it wasn't much, I just cleaned buildings, but I had my own apartment."

"So you've essentially been living as an adult for the past two years?" Goose put in.

"Yeah, I guess."

Niko looked across at Goose, her eyes uncertain. He shrugged and gave her his best Hell-if-I-know look. She sighed and returned her gaze to the younger woman. "I'm not sure what your legal status is, Gaea," Niko confessed, "but with your consent I'd like to continue. Is that all right?"

Gaea shrugged, eyes fixed on the floor. "Yeah, I guess."

"Thank you." Niko paused as if to gather her thoughts. "Gaea, I'd like to hear about the history of your abilities. When did they surface?"

Gaea blinked. "Um—I guess I don't remember."

"Can you remember the first time you used your abilities?"

"I... guess I remember waking up from a bad dream and Ma—, um, Mira was there and she already knew what the dream was about so I must have touched her mind. I can't even remember myself what I dreamed, maybe falling. It must have been, she said, 'I'll c-catch you.' She told me it was all right." Gaea looked away as tears once again filled her eyes. She sniffled.

"Do you know how old you were?" Niko asked, busying herself with her handheld and ignoring the tears.

"Um... maybe three? She—I wasn't four yet," Gaea said, and at the pain in her voice Goose shifted his weight in dismayed sympathy.

Niko's eyebrows rose slightly, but her voice was smooth as she asked, "So you think your telepathy was active as early as three years of age?" Her eyes flicked to Goose, holding a hint of something he couldn't immediately decipher, and then back to Gaea's face.

"I guess."

"Good. Now, do you remember the first time you consciously touched someone else's mind?"

"I wasn't much older, I guess. I was with M—Mira, in my mind, a lot. She didn't mind, she loved me. But she died." Her lips quivered. "Then later hemade me practice all the time, listening and sending. And moving things. He made me start with feathers and little weights, but I got bored. I—I couldn't—I—don't—"

Gaea's voice choked off, and a soft wail emerged from her throat. Goose felt his stomach tighten in response to a wholly unexpected surge of grief and terror. What the hell—? A moment later he was out of his seat and crouching next to her. Her eyes were huge, terrified.

"Gaea, what's wrong?" Worry creased Niko's forehead, and she leaned forward slightly.

Gaea burst into tears.

"GV, pause recording," Niko said calmly, and then she leaned forward to touch the fingertips of one hand to Gaea's temple, stroking lightly. "It's all right," Niko whispered. "It's all right." She kept up the gentle motion of her fingers, stroking Gaea's forehead and hair, as the girl regained control of her emotions.

"I'm sorry," Gaea hiccupped. "I don't know what's wrong with me." Goose rose, fumbled in a nearby locker, and crouched back down to offer her a tissue. She took it and swiped at her eyes before blowing her nose. "Thank you." She took two deep breaths and settled herself.

"GV, please resume." Niko leaned back in her chair. "Gaea, can you tell me why you're crying?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure. I just keep hearing his, Latham's, voice in my head, with all those rules, never this, never that, over and over, and I just want it to stop..." She put one hand on her forehead and sniffed again.

Niko's eyes narrowed. She glanced over at Goose. "Shane, did you—" Did they do this to you? her look asked.

"Not like this."

Niko frowned, looking thoughtful. "Gaea, would you let me do a reading on you?"

Gaea tensed, and Goose awkwardly patted her arm. "Niko doesn't pry," he offered.

"Your mind belongs to you, Gaea," Niko added firmly. "I will never read you without your permission. Right now, if you consent to it, I'll use a gift called psychometry to look into your past. I wouldn't be reading your mind but rather watching events as they happened. I'll be looking for one specific thing, and I won't intrude where I'm not wanted."

Slowly Gaea relaxed. "Okay," she whispered. Goose rose to his feet and leaned against the side of her chair, too restless to sit again.

Once again Niko leaned forward and put one hand to Gaea's temple. With the other, the left, she touched the golden badge at her belt. The pale golden glow of Niko's powers surrounded the two of them, and Gaea flinched.

"It's all right, Gaea," Niko said calmly, her eyes closed. "It's just the charge from my Series Five implant."

The two sat quietly for a few moments. Goose studied them, bathed in golden light: two women, more alike than not, who— He tried to shut the thought off, but it popped up in spite of his efforts. Who are both becoming important to me. He shifted uncomfortably. Don't go there, Gooseman. Niko's your friend, Gaea's... sort of like a relative. I guess. Don't make a big deal of it.

Don't think about kissing Niko, either. Or especially about the huge shitstorm Wheiner's crowd would kick up if they thought you were seriously—

Just forget it, because it's never going to happen. His mouth twisted in a bitter smile. Yeah. A human telepath and a Supertrooper? They'd freeze us both before they'd let that go anywhere. His lip curled. It scares them too much.

Niko frowned and sat back, opening her eyes. The luminescence dimmed.

"It's hard to be sure," she said slowly, "but Gaea, the vision I saw leads me to believe your mind has been tampered with. Some kind of conditioning was imposed on you."

Gaea tightened her mouth, looking sick.

"I don't believe it could have been terribly strong, though," Niko continued. "You were able to choose freedom for yourself and make an independent life. Do you often find yourself getting upset when you think about these rules?"

"Y-yeah." Gaea swallowed hard. "I always just thought it was b-bad memories."

Niko looked compassionately at her. "I think we can help you overcome that conditioning eventually. Do you think you can continue, or do you need to stop for a while?"

"No. No. I want to keep going." Gaea took on a look of stubborn determination.

Niko smiled and picked up her datapad again. "So you consciously used your telepathy at the age..."

Goose watched in appreciation as skillfully, gently, Niko led Gaea through the questions: when, how, for what purpose she had used her abilities; how strong they seemed to be; how easy or difficult she found it to use them.

"So you don't remember a time when your telepathy wasn't active," Niko summed up, eyes flickering up and down her notes. "The psychokinesis manifested at age four, when your foster mother was out of the room and you wanted a toy from a shelf. You've practiced these skills fairly consistently from the time they manifested—"

"Except when the headaches came," Gaea cut in, and blinked in surprise. "I forgot about that," she added slowly, an odd expression crossing her face. "Why did I forget about it?"

Niko glanced sharply up at her. "Headaches? When did you begin having them? Do you still get them?"

"No, no, not since I was little," she answered. "Um... I don't think I ever got them when I lived with... Mira. I remember having to take a lot of medicine after the car accident. It tasted bad and I cried a lot."

"Did you sustain a head injury in the crash?" Niko asked, eyes intent.

"No... I was fine. I wasn't even scratched, just—" Tears welled up again, and she dashed them away impatiently. "I was with M—Mira, when—the accident happened. In my head."

Niko stiffened. "You were in telepathic contact with her?" she demanded. Gaea flinched again.

"Yes," the girl whispered. "I cried for weeks after he took me away."

Niko sank back against her seat. Her eyes closed for a brief moment. "I'm so sorry," she said quietly, her gaze full of pity. "That's a terribly traumatic experience for anyone, let alone a child."

Gaea stared at her lap, getting hold of her emotions.

"Well, um... The headaches. I guess they started after the crash. I just remember horrible pain in my head—and all the pills. Some of them were hard to swallow for a little kid, but they made me learn."

"Do you know what kind of pills they were?" Niko asked.

"No. I think some of them were just painkillers or vitamins." She laughed suddenly. "I forgot the vitamins. They were somebody's idea of fruit flavored. But some of the pills were odd colors, green or grey or pink, a really bright pink sort of gel tablet. They gave me a lot of those."

Goose tensed. Pink gel tabs..."Those pink tabs—Gaea, do you remember how you felt after you took them?"

She blinked and looked up at him. "Well—no, not really."

"Did your behavior change during that time?" he asked.

"Well, of course it did," she said impatiently. "I hated the place, I wanted my mother, I was miserable, and I cried all the time."

"Temper tantrums? Outbursts of temper or aggressiveness?" he pressed.

"Goose?" Niko asked softly.

He sank back into the chair next to Gaea. "Genetic enabling factor," he said heavily. "They used it to activate and enhance the special features built into the Supertroopers' genetic structure. I... quit taking it. I didn't need it, and I didn't like how it made me feel and act."

Gaea stared at him. "You're talking about a mutagen," she said, once again looking sick to her stomach.

They stared at her.

"Well, you don't have to look like that," she said impatiently. "I learned all kinds of stuff there. I could play chess by the age of six. I learned math and physics. I even had biology and physiology, with an emphasis on diseases and congenital defects. Can you guess why?" Her voice rang with bitterness. "I didn't put it all together for a long time after."

Goose shook his head, keeping his attention on her face, but a cold voice in his head was saying, Oh, I can guess. I can guess way too easily.

"I know four ways to cause a stroke," she said woodenly. "I can mimic several kinds of deadly heart conditions and inhibit brainstem activity in a number of ways in humans, Andorians, Kiwis, and a couple other species. I—"

Goose's hand closed over hers. "You don't have to," he said quietly. "You don't have to do any of those things."

She stared emptily at him. There was a pause.

"So, Goose," Niko said, "you think the headaches were caused by genetic enabling factor?"

He shrugged. "We'd have to run it by Dr. Nagata to be sure, but that's my best uneducated guess."

Niko made a note. "The trauma of feeling your foster mother's death may have exacerbated the headaches, though that's not usually a symptom of that kind of damage. The depression is much more typical." She looked up from her handheld. "Gaea, you've mentioned telepathy and psychokinesis. You used some kind of energy charge, the nature of which you say you don't fully understand, in an attempt to wipe the data chip on Louis Tulley's vidcam. You mentioned dreams that may have been clairvoyant. Do you have any other psionic abilities?"

Gaea blinked. "Just... I heal quickly."

"How quickly?" Niko asked, writing rapidly.

The hiss of Niko's boot knife slipping free of its sheath sounded loud in the relative hush of the Nav Bay. Niko yelped and aborted a grab for it, obviously realizing she would only cut herself. Goose came half out of his seat as the hilt settled into Gaea's left hand.

"Is this clean?" Gaea asked coolly, pushing up her right sleeve.

"What—" Niko began.

Gaea drew in a breath; on the exhalation she drew the knife sharply down the top of her right forearm. Blood welled from the long, shallow wound, and her mouth tightened slightly in reaction.

"Gaea!" Goose nearly shouted. "What are you doing?"

"Shh," the young woman said absently, seemingly staring through the wound. An odd sort of stillness descended over her.

"Goose, be quiet." Niko's voice was soft, but her tone brooked no argument. He was opening his mouth to argue anyway when he saw it.

Gaea's arm was healing. The bleeding slowed and stopped, and Goose stared in shock as he watched the flesh knit from the inside. Barely twenty seconds after the cut had been inflicted, the skin closed, leaving only a thin pink line that faded and was gone moments later.

Rousing, Gaea wiped the blade on the tissue Goose had given her and offered the hilt to Niko.

"Thank you," she said. "I didn't think you'd give it to me if I asked."

Niko took the blade and sheathed it. "You were right. That was rash."

Gaea shrugged, scrubbing at the blood smeared over her skin. Goose grabbed a handful of tissue and dropped it in her lap. "Yeah, probably," she said, picking up the fresh tissues and wiping up the last of the mess. "It's harder to do that with serious wounds. I got burned really badly once, and it took a lot longer. And I can't do it on other people. But did that tell you how fast?"

"Yes, Gaea." Niko looked wry. "Thank you. Do you have any other surprises for us?"

Gaea hunched her shoulders, looking suddenly embarrassed. "No."

"Is there anything else I should know for my initial report on your abilities or your background?"

Gaea seemed to shrink into her seat. "No," she almost whispered. "I don't think so."

"Gaea, it's all right. You did very well," Niko told her gently. "Thank you very much." She cocked her head slightly. "We'll be arriving at BETA soon. How does a hot shower, a change of clothes, and a square meal sound? You can have them in any order you like."

"Thank you," Gaea mumbled.

Niko rose. "I'm going to go prepare my report. Goose, I think Zachary wants to speak with you before we set down."

"Sure." He shrugged. "Now?"

Niko indicated Gaea with a sidelong glance. "Why don't you give it about ten more minutes? That gives me time to brief him." She turned gracefully on her heel in a swirl of auburn hair and cycled the hatch. "Thank you again, Gaea," she said over her shoulder. "Perhaps you should try to relax for a few minutes. GV can help you if you need anything."

Goose watched as the hatch closed behind her slender form.

Gaea - Chapter 08

From Betamountain.org

Gaea

Chapter 8

by Baybelletrist