Phantasm 1: For the Light of the Stars (two)

When Silverburgh was gone, Laura sighed again. Just as she was beginning to become accustomed to something new, they changed things again. Maybe that was designed to keep her weary and always wondering, alienated and off-balance.

If so, it was working. She was human like the rest and there was only so much unnecessary crap she could take without self-destructing. The question was what was the limit? And how much more before she reached it? It was a natural response to feel trapped and Laura was partly glad that she was no different in that respect. Noah, Silverburgh and any others would probably deny it but at heart she knew that she was being trained as a soldier. They were trying to destroy the humanity she still possessed, bend and break her so she would serve them better; they moved her round and made her train according to their schedule, not her own, kept her guessing and insecure. Laura was determined not to let that get to her. There was a war going on here, and not just the one against the Shuruk, this was psychological warfare. The instructors had had many years of practice in its art and knew how to make her life a living hell. What they did not realise was that she was already there.

There’s a difference between opinion and conviction. My opinion is something that is true for me personally; my conviction is something that is true for everybody — in my opinion.

The elevator was as disorientating as it had been on the first occasion. Laura was rendered light-headed by the pulsing light wrapping around the moving tube, and she felt nauseous as well.

She was not alone, as much as she might wish she were. The two trainees she was now partnered with, Josh and Shamir, accompanied her on this trip down further into the depth of the facility. She didn’t know if she welcomed their company just yet. She was used to being and thinking on her own, and adjusting to others around her, interacting with her, was more difficult than she thought it would be. Her feelings were balanced somewhere between being threatened and feeling joy — it was with some surprise that she found she was glad her isolation was over.

Josh was a heated, fiery young man. He often became flustered by the simplest things though he did not show his frustration, it was just a sense she got from him, a darkening of his mood. Josh was intimidating in his own way; tall and powerful, his arms and legs were muscular and strained against the fabric of his jump-suit. His expression always seemed blank and his mood more often sombre than not, his attitude defiant. At times Laura wondered if there was any warmth within him. At other times she could see it clearly, a slight smile or a joke, but it always seemed forced somehow.

Shamir was a few years older than both Josh and Laura, around twenty, but he seemed much older. His skin was a pale chocolate, and he was of Sri Lanka descent but retained no noticeable accent. His posture was remarkably straight and dignified, as intimidating as Josh’s fierce demeanour. Laura was attracted to Shamir, she liked and respected him. Already a bond had formed between them; all three supported each other, knowing the common hardships they all faced, but Laura thought that she and Shamir had connected beyond that.

The walls of the tube didn’t turn translucent in these parts of the facility so it was difficult to tell when their descent was approaching its end. The light kept flashing in its rhythmic motion — one, two three —, the forces kept pulling them down, until finally it all loosened and their motions ceased. The entrance slid aside. The elevator had its own gravity but the outside did not so Laura approached the entrance and slipped around the side, placing her feet against the outside walls of the elevator tube and pushing off into the no-gravity environment.

Once she had emerged safely, Laura allowed herself to examine their surroundings. It was a direct contrast to the confining, claustrophobic elevator, a walkway spread outwards, winding away out of sight. This told her that all sections must at some time have had gravity distributed to them; why else would you have a walkway unless you could actually walk upon it? It was quite a large, open area, allowing them a good deal of room for movement.