Kinetic

They spoke less and less. Now she just told him what to do, but even that was infrequent- for what couldn’t she do more easily herself?

When he was not with her, he knew he was safe. But around every corner he saw her standing there, if only for an instant before the paranoid illusion dissipated in front of his eyes.

He was alone now, in the late night hours. The streets were only filled with prostitutes and dope dealers. This did not worry him. Katshiro hailed a cab. After twenty-five minutes he was on the other side of the city, five blocks away from the Antagua Scientific Research Facility. A short walk and enough to clear his mind.

The Antagua Facility was ill equipped to discourage intruders. A kicked in basement window and nothing more. Katshiro had a good memory and he had been there once before. Kira told him much about the facility. With some little effort, he was able to find the room in which her "accident" occurred.

It was on the third floor, where, if he read between her conversation lines correctly, experimental projects were handled. The room’s door was locked, but Kira had its key among those on her car ring. In conjunction, he needed to press a code into a keypad. She had told him her code. It had not been changed.

S-H-I-R-O. Click.

It was a simple room: a chair, a computer, papers, disks...and electrodes labeled appropriately for different body parts. Katshiro fired up the computer and its components, then removed a disk from his own coat pocket.

He inserted the disk- Kira’s own, forgotten- and wondered at the information there. There was tons of it. Analytical data- the results of some test. At the end, there were numbers three times as high as anywhere previous and a chart of wavelengths which looked like a Richter reading of ten.

Katshiro was also good with computers. In a few hours he had the electrodes hooked up to himself and was beginning the preliminary tests, with the guidance of the computer and the program.

Suddenly, things were happening beyond his control. The program was running itself. It seemed to be reading his vital signs while manipulating electrical impulses through the electrodes. Suddenly, a great jolt of electricity shot through his body. It convulsed. His hands tightened into fists. His eyes bulged out of his head. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air. He began to lose consciousness. And just before the darkness surrounded him and his senses collapsed, there was an increase of pain and a great flash.

Katshiro was thrown out of the chair and across the room. Everything was dark except the greenish glow of the monitor.

Slowly, Katshiro rose and walked toward the monitor. The pain was gone. It was overcome. There was a great sense of power within him. The air around him pressed against his skin.

The light of the monitor glimmered in his face.

His expression was serious and controlled.

"Stop it! Fucking stop it!"

Kira screamed an inhuman scream. For the fourth time in four weeks she shattered a still statue which sat on the television. It had become a matter of expression to destroy things. Often times it was things in their apartment.

"Why do you keep buying the same stupid statue, Shiro?"