“We’re going to do it one more time okay, love? I’m going to count down from three.” Claire was still winded from the last four times the woman in the white lab coat, seated behind a large screen atop a grey metal box had asked her to hold herself underwater for as long as she could. A thousand wires came out of the back of the metal box and snaked all the way to her in the large, transparent vat of water, where they were attached to circular stickers all over her body. They had been placed on her by the woman at the beginning of the day and attached to a different metal box in the laboratory each time they started a new test. Claire was growing tired of the whole experience.
The day started with her being asked to run then stop then run again over and over. Next, She was asked to hang upside down until she felt dizzy and fell asleep, which she didn’t mind doing since it made her feel like a bat. She did that three times before the woman stopped because it gave Claire such a bad headache. Now she was on her fifth round of holding her breath underwater in the water tank in the middle of the science lab. She did not like this test one bit. Each time she held her breath, it got harder. Swimming was never something she enjoyed doing and she didn’t even want to pretend to be a goldfish because goldfish were dumb and never had anything interesting to say. Her father used to bring one home for her after long business trips, which she would quickly release into the pond as they were terribly dull companions.
“...two, one!” Claire heard the woman exclaim. She obediently took a deep breath and pulled herself under the water and over to the clear platform that was submerged several inches below the surface. Grabbing the edge of the platform she swung her body underneath it and placed the top of her head against the glass. Then, she waited. Her stomach growled once in a long, low rumble. She had not been allowed to eat yet today and the woman in the white coat told her she could not do so until all of the tests were completed. Claire tried to ignore the hunger pains and focus on the distorted figure of the lady in white standing behind the computer just outside of the tank. She realized at that moment that the woman had never told her her name.
Claire began to feel pressure on her chest indicating she was close to having to resurface. She wanted to push herself a little further this time, thinking that maybe if she could stay down longer than the other times, she may pass the test and this could all be over. Although she did not really know how to “pass these tests”, or really what any of them were for other than to see how healthy she was. Claire was able to count to 20 before having no choice but to resurface. This time, as she emerged from the water, she pulled the goggles she was wearing away from her eyes, making a popping sound as the suction released from her skin. She pulled them off her head and swam a few feet to the edge of the tank, towards the woman in white.
“You did great Claire. Come on out now and dry off. We only have one more test and then we are done for the day.” Claire resisted the urge to sigh out loud. She remembered the words of her father when reminding her to always respect her elders. “You can learn a great many things from those that are older, as they have already learned much more than you have. However, no one will want to teach you anything if you do not show respect.” Claire wanted to know all things in life and didn’t want to hurt her chances of being able to learn everything she possibly could.
As she came down the ladder outside of the tank, the woman provided her with a towel. “There are some clean clothes for you to wear once you are dry. Please go behind the curtain to change and we will move on to the next test.” Claire noticed that the woman seemed a bit like a robot like the ones from the old black and white movies her mother used to watch. The woman spoke very little and never smiled. If it weren’t for the heart Claire could clearly hear beating in her chest and the occasional sense of worry that could be felt emitting from her, she could have very well passed for an android.
Claire walked to the corner of the room with a curtain hanging from the ceiling, creating a small area of privacy. She drew the curtain behind her and quickly changed. At this point, she didn’t care what the last test was, she just wanted to eat. Once she had emerged from the changing area, she saw the woman seated next to a table with instruments on it. She walked over to her and saw that the tools were a small knife, some cotton balls, and what looked like water in a glass jar. There was a chair placed before the woman in which she indicated to Claire to sit.
“This next test will be a little uncomfortable. I will need to make some cuts in your skin on your arms, legs, stomach, and face.” She must have noticed the look of terror on Claire’s face as she continued reassuringly, “the cuts won’t hurt too much at all and they should all heal within the next couple of hours.” Claire did not feel reassured in the slightest. She wanted her mom. She never had to visit the doctor or dentist without her and her mother would always sing to her before any of the visits. Her mother could not sing to her this time. She would never hear her sing again outside of her memories.
The woman pushed on and began rolling up Claire’s sleeve. “ I’m so sorry Claire. I just realized that I haven’t introduced myself to you yet.” Claire sensed a shift in the woman. She seemed warmer suddenly and Claire felt her own body relax a little with this new feeling. “ My name is Hala. I’m from a country called Jordan. Do you know this place?” Claire nodded. She had memorized the names and locations of each country in the world and intended to someday visit all of them.
“Are you from Amman or another town?” Claire had also memorized every capital of each country. Hala smiled for the first time. “No. I am from a nearby city called Zarqa,” Hala replied as she dampened a cotton ball with the clear liquid. Isopropyl Alcohol, 91%, Claire read.. Hala wiped the cotton swab on an area of Claire’s arm, just above her elbow. The coolness of the alcohol and realization that a cut was soon to follow renewed Claire’s sense of fear. Hala must have sensed it too as she quickly tried to distract her once more.
“ I read that you grew up in Vientiane.” Claire nodded.
“I’ve never been to Laos.” Despite Hala’s efforts, Claire was fixated on the scalpel that she just picked up from the table. Hala looked into Claire’s eyes and Claire sensed that she acknowledged the distractions were not working.
“What about pets Claire? Do you have any pets?” Claire softened a little at the thought of her dog, Tundra. She had named him herself. His fur was as white as snow which made him look like a tundra. Claire had only ever seen snow in photos of the various “wintery deserts” of the world. Someday, she would see each one.
“My dog''s name is Tundra because he is as white as snow.”
“Oh really? And what does Tundra like to do?” Claire turned her eyes to the ceiling in contemplation. She barely noticed the scalpel slicing into her arm. She looked down and saw Hala cover a tiny cut that was now leaking blood slowly down her arm, with a piece of white cloth. That really wasn’t so bad, Claire thought to herself. She was no longer afraid of the other incisions to come.
“He likes to fetch and play hide and seek with me!” Claire bellowed with pride. Tundra was her best friend in the entire world. “He is now on an adventure to find one of his friends. I wanted to go with him but I have school…” Claire trailed off for a moment. “Had school,’ She corrected herself.
“Well, I had a cat once,” Hala jumped in.
“Really? What was his name?” Claire asked as Hala made another small cut on her cheek. Hala smiled and proceeded to tell her all about her cat, Aziza.
One hour and twenty-three minutes later, while Claire ranked the best breeds of elephants starting with the Borneo, Hala examined the incision locations and took a picture of each, just as she had done every ten minutes since the cuts were made.
She looked up at Claire, who was in the midst of explaining why the African Forest Elephant was overrated and smiled.
“What is it?” Claire said, stopping mid-rant.
“Take a look,” Hala pointed to the area where the cut on her arm had been. There was no indication at all that anything had ever been there.
“Does this mean we can eat now?” Claire said, looking back at Hala with an air of hopefulness in her voice.
…..
Amir woke up in a panic sweat. It took him several minutes to calm himself down this time. He looked around the dark room. Once his eyes adjusted and he saw the eighty or so bunks around him, he realized he was in the sleeping quarters of the Facility. He sat up in the bed, reassuring himself this fact a few more times until he was certain of it. This was the second nightmare tonight. They had started to become frequent again. Every one of them was the same; he is in the dark, feeling around to find his way. When he finally finds a light switch, he flips it on to reveal that he is standing in his parent’s living room with the corpses of his family seated on the sofa. His mother, father and sister’s bodies seated upright, heads straight forward, decaying slowly. He calls out to them. His father’s head turns towards him and his mouth falls open, releasing a piercing scream. His mother remains motionless, but he hears her voice “Fadil is waiting.” This is the point where he always wakes up.
“What does it mean?”
Having been consumed by the nightmare, Amir didn’t notice that Jacob was sitting up in a bunk a few feet away, looking at him.
“Fadil is waiting. What does it mean?” Jacob repeated.
“I’m not sure. “Amir said, throwing the blankets off and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He rubbed an eye with one hand.
“Were you sleeping when you heard it this time?” Amir knew that Jacob heard his mother’s voice in his mind, as clearly as he had. This was not the first time fragments of his nightmares also plagued Jacob’s sleep. Amir wondered if others in the room could also “hear” him. If they could, none of them had mentioned it as of yet. Jacob seemed to be the only other Palila or Avis which Amir could clearly determine his emotional state. Everyone else’s were difficult to decipher, as though they were all jumbled together in a pile. He couldn''t tell which feelings were associated with whom. He had however, felt another strong and clear signal from someone in the Facility but had yet to figure out who it was.
Jacob nodded “ - And I was having such a wonderful dream, too.” he said playfully through a yawn.
Amir smirked at him, suddenly grateful he wasn’t alone. Even though it felt somewhat invasive at times that they had this strange connection allowing them to occasionally peek into each other''s awarenesses, it reminded him of another person he was once linked with in this manner.
“Fadil is…was my brother.”
“I’m sorry.” Jacob’s pain and empathy rushed over Amir. They shared a mutual desire to help the other, but knew they were both so broken that they could not determine how they would go about doing so. Everyone in the bunker shared this trait. They were fragmented versions of the people they had once been. Amir didn’t need to have a unique mutation to be certain of this. Whether he was walking the halls, eating in the mess, or taking a shower in the locker rooms, the broken hearts and torn spirits of the bunker’s 4302 residents weighed down on him. It was a grim place to be.
“Hey, I heard that you’re starting your one on ones with Mateo tomorrow. Have you met him yet?” Jacob asked.
“No, not yet.”
“I think you’ll like him. He knows so much about our kind. He lived in a commune of people like us before coming here.” Amir could feel Jacob’s optimism as though it was his own. “He also has this understudy sitting in on the sessions and let me tell yeah she - well let’s just say she may be just what you need to lift your spirits,” Jacob said suggestively with a sly grin.
Amir chuckled as the bunkmate above him swung his head jarringly over the edge of the bed.
“It is three in the morning! For the love of God, please shut up!”
The next morning, while eating breakfast in the mess hall, Amir felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket simultaneously with Jacob’s and a few others that were placed on the dining table. It was one item that they were all encouraged to bring with them when they came to the Facility as it was the main tool of communication from the staff to the residence via the local network within the bunker. “The agenda is up,” Jacob said before popping a piece of toast into his mouth and proceeding to scroll through the contents of the document. He sighed and swallowed before lamenting “ I don’t think I will ever be used to waking up before 8 am.” Amir smirked, grateful for the normality of his complaint. For a moment, it felt as though it was just a normal day where having to wake up early was the worst thing a teenager could experience in his life.
“They treat us like we are in the military, or worse, prison!” scoffed a man sitting across from Amir.
They had all been informed soon after their arrival that in order to maintain a productive and peaceful habitat for all, they would be provided strict weekly schedules every Sunday to comply with. Each of the residents had been assigned to groups of approximately 80 people. Your division would eat, shower, sleep, and rotate through testing or training within the same time slots. Anyone who refused to comply would be ejected from the bunker. So far, no one had refused.
The man seated beside the first interjected, “There are 4000 people in a bunker made to house 3000. The routines are a must and should really be the least of your worries. How can this place sustain all of us for a long term period if we are already pushing it past its limits? That is without taking into consideration that maintaining this place will eventually require materials and possible exterior work. How will that be possible?” he had a valid point, Amir thought. Starving or suffocating in this place would be the most likely outcome of long term residency. He noticed his hair standing on end as a sickly sense of fear rose from the pit of his stomach. Knowing that he did not fear the promise of death himself, he acknowledged that Jacob was projecting his own state of crisis onto him.
Amir put a hand on Jacob’s shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Don’t worry bud. If all hell breaks loose in here, we can always leave. We are palilas. We have the superior mutation.” His tone was slightly sarcastic and he felt a pain of guilt when he noticed that Jacob had picked up on it. He felt a fluttering of anxiety in his chest that he knew immediately had come from Jacob. Amir quickly changed his approach to comfort the frightened boy.
He tilted his head towards Jacob’s eyeline, drawing him into direct eye contact. “Hey, if things go south down here, we will leave together. The virus truly can’t hurt us.” Amir felt Jacob’s anxiety begin to dissipate. “We leave together, yeah?” Amir said, solidifying his commitment to his young friend. Jacob gave an unconvincing grin which dropped from his face almost immediately. Amir, still cupping Jacob’s shoulder in his hand gave it a stronger squeeze this time and pushed once more, “I’ll have your back and you can have mine, sound good?” Jacob’s shoulders dropped as he finally broke into a sincere smile. Through the fear and uncertainty, Amir could sense the warmth of reassured comfort building within him. Jacob nodded in agreement to the packed Amir proposed and resumed eating his breakfast.
Amir pulled his phone out from his pocket, selected the English version of the document and read through the outline of the week’s activities.
Factions FF and FM Calendar for the week of September 17th, 2043:
Shower times will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday this week.
FF timeslot: 8 am to 8:15 am
FM timeslot: 8:20 am to 8:35 am
** Makes sure to come prepared with your showering necessities before entering the shower area. Shower time will not be extended, no exceptions.
Meal times and section:
Breakfast: 8:45am to 8:15 am
Lunch: 1:15 pm to 1:45 pm
Dinner: 5:30pm to 6:00pm
All meals will be had in section B of the Mess Hall.
Sensory testing sessions will continue starting today at 9 am and will be conducted by our head of Sensory Field studies, Dr. Mateo Duran, and his staff. Please see the list here for your appointment time.
Agendas for each week will be provided every Sunday at breakfast.
Amir clicked the link that took him the list of each member from factions FF, shorthand for group F-Female, and FM, or F-Male.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Rahal, Amir Vicente- 2pm
Amir finished up his meal, said a quick goodbye to those seated at the table and headed off to the library he knew would be deserted at this hour to be alone with his thoughts.
“Welcome, you must be Amir. I’m Paulina,” said a petite, black haired woman with wise eyes greeting him at the entrance of wing 120 East where testing and training were conducted. Amir had recently completed his endurance testing behind one of the many doors that lined the hall.
“Follow me,” said Paulina, turning on her heel and proceeding down the hall. Her gentle tone seemed to ease Amir, even though he had no recollection of being tense prior to this. He walked a few paces behind her, reading the plaques on the doors as they passed. They reached a door labeled Testing Center One. They entered and Paulina instructed Amir to have a seat.
“Mateo should be here at any moment,” Paulina said.
The words had only just left her mouth when a man opened the door and with a quick nod to each of them, sat down in the chair facing Amir.
Extending a hand out to Amir he said “Hello, you must be-” he trailed off momentarily to look at the tablet in his hand, “- Amir Rahal.” Amir nodded as he took his hand. “Mateo Duran.” He continued. Amir felt a chill when he looked into the man’s face. He was a tall man with dark features and nearly black eyes. They seemed like voids yet somehow Amir knew they were deconstructing his every move, micro expression, tone of voice, everything. The sharp and skilled eyes exhibited a depth of knowledge and experience strongly contrasted by the youthfulness of his face. Amir noticed that this was true of all residents in the bunker, the eyes always seemed to reveal the age of each, and Mateo’s eye’s told of a man that knew the inner workings of all aspects of life. He must be quite old, Amir decided.
“468 years old to be exact,” Mateo replied aloud, startling Amir. Unlike Fadil or Jacob, the man’s ability to read his thoughts were completely undetectable.
“I apologize. Normally, I would respect the boundaries of one’s mind, however, you were quite lost in decoding the points of intrigue in my features and we have a good amount of ground to cover over the next hour so we must jump right in.” Amir nodded, regaining his composure. “You’re an engineer I see. This explains your instincts. I’m intrigued to work with a mind such as this.” Amir pushed aside the sense of uneasiness Mateo triggered within him, determined to gain as much insight as he could about how it was possible that telepathic communication could occur.
Mateo read through something on his tablet as Paulina typed furiously on hers.
“Ah yes. You are the identical twin my colleagues have been buzzing about.” Mateo maintained composure, indulging in not a single depiction of intrigue when mentioning this piece of information, unlike his colleagues, which included Paulina, who widened her eyes ever so slightly while keeping them aimed downward at the tablet on her lap.
Mateo noticed Amir picking up on the micro-expression. “Please forgive my colleagues. This is a particularly exciting discovery for us all.” Amir couldn’t tell if Mateo had heard his thoughts again or was simply incredibly perceptive.
“You grew up in a unique situation that no other recorded Longeavitate has ever had the privilege to experience. Do you remember when you and your brother began to communicate with each other telepathically?” Amir was becoming more comfortable talking about the abilities he had so long hid from everyone other than Fadil but had not yet reached a point of wanting to discuss his brother, or their relationship, with anyone. “I can’t recall a time when we were not able to.” Amir reluctantly replied.
Mateo nodded. “In due time, you will be able to recall your entire life in the greatest of detail but we shall cross that bridge when you are ready.”
“The goal of this session will be to provide you with context into what the sensory field is followed by an exercise in accessing it with another. The Sensory Field is the source of all connectivity between living beings. It allows a subconscious flow of information to be passed from one to another. Both mind and body are connected to it at all times.” Paulina stopped typing for a moment, stared at Amir, analyzing his face, then returned to typing.
“There are theories as to how the Field actually works, some more plausible than others however, most agree that it is a plain of energy transmitters, known as wave lengths, connected to each of us. Unfortunately, there is still a high degree of doubt concerning its existence among the Longeavitate community, stunting the research into the why and how of it.”
“ So your division doesn’t conduct research into this?” Amir interjected.
“No,” replied Mateo. “I myself am no physicist and my division has not received the credibility needed to sway the heads of the Facility into agreeing that investing in one is a worthy cause.” Amir began to feel that the explanation he was looking for would not surface in this conversation. Discouraged, he fought the urge to tune out completely, knowing that Mateo or his hawk-eyed assistant would immediately pick up on it.
“You see, the field is quite difficult to access for adult Avis. They can be trained, as I was by a group of Longeavitates I had met many years ago, but most have a similar reaction to the notion of some ‘energy field’ that can give them telepathic abilities. I was only able to start this division when I demonstrated the power the Field can grant to one of the board heads who happened to be a Palila, like yourself. You see, the mutation has granted us the ability to connect and navigate the field through the mental and physical efficiencies it provides. It is not just our bodies that maintain an optimal state but our minds as well. They are hyper vigilant and sensitive to all matter surrounding us. Since Palilas possess a more sophisticated evolution of the mutation, their minds are essentially the most efficient processors in existence. This makes access to the Field and the abilities it grants far more attainable for a Palila than an Avis. Avis children are also able to access with greater ease, as children naturally operate on a more sensory level of communication.”
Amir sat quietly, processing the revelations provided by Mateo. On a conceptual level, this was beginning to sound plausible to him however, he could not shake the cloud of uncertainty that the lack of scientific research created.
Almost as though Mateo had read his thoughts again he said, “ Nothing would please me more than having more scientific research conducted on the workings of the Field, but at this time, the Heads only seem to care that it can provide certain abilities useful to the survival of our kind and want each resident to be trained to use it. Maybe someone with your skillset could someday help in heading such research but for now, let me explain what can be done through it.” - Amir noted the slightest tone of frustration and defensiveness from Mateo when discussing the limitations placed on his research department and decided it was best to not press on the matter further at this time. He nodded to Mateo, conceding for the time being. Mateo pressed on.
“Now, you are familiar with the telepathic ability you possess made possible by Sensory Field connectivity. This is known as field communication. The Field, however, can facilitate so much more. Over the course of your training, we will explore at great length what possibilities it provides, but today, I would like to focus on one key practice. Through a method of meditation, we can access a world created by both of our minds. This is known as ‘entering the Field’. It is not easy to learn but can provide those within it a plain to which they have full reign. With this, you can share memories and experiences with another in a controlled and stable manner. The key to it is emotional control. Initial navigation of the Field in order to reach such a state with another requires finding the wavelengths connecting you with another simultaneously and maintaining complete focus and control over those specific connections.We all have natural connections to one another but can also create simulated connections that form as each party focuses on the pre-existing waves. Focusing meditative energy into the waves creates "copies" so to speak of them which reinforce the connection between the participants. The more naturally occurring wavelengths between two people, the easier this can be done as the mind will not need to simulate additional waves to complete the connection required to “enter” with another. You may have noticed that you can already communicate or share some experiences with certain people requiring little to no effort. They must have many wavelengths in common with you already and are most likely Palilas themselves. Explaining wavelength wielding using plain English is far less effective than guiding within the Field itself. It is best that we begin the access training straight away.”
Amir sat cross-legged on the ground of the furniture-less room they had moved to with a large one-way mirror on the left-hand wall, which he suspected Paulina stood behind, ready to pummel the screen of her tablet with every detail she witnessed. He contemplated the need for such a room in a war bunker, settling on the conclusion that this was an addition made by the current owners in order to facilitate observational analysis. It seemed a tad over the top from his perspective.
Mateo entered the room and sat down before him. He sat so close that his knees pressed up against Amir’s, sending a sensation of discomfort through him. He wasn’t keen on people he just met entering his personal space. “Trust me when I tell you that this is the least invasive position to be in with a counterpart when training entry,” Mateo proclaimed, once again seemingly reading Amir’s mind. For a man that claims to respect the boundaries of people’s private internal dialogue, he crosses that line quite often, Amir thought. Mateo put one hand up, “Now, we will each need to place a hand on the other’s chest. Just as sitting on the floor keeps us grounded in the present, so does the hand on the other maintain the connection between one another.” It seemed as though the true training at hand was to teach Amir how to tolerate human contact with a stranger, he thought.
Amir placed his hand on the man’s chest. “I’m going to guide you into a state of meditation now. Do you have experience with meditation?”
“Some,” Amir recalled his time in college with a girlfriend who tried to turn him onto alternative healing through spiritual release. He attended a single meditation session at a Buddist temple to please her and found the experience quite relaxing. His relaxed state was soon shattered, however, when he walked into the washroom to find his girlfriend assisting another patron of the temple with a more commonly known form of “spiritual release”.
Mateo nodded in acknowledgment. “Please close your eyes now and take a nice deep breath.”
Amir complied with each of Mateo’s instructions leading him to a calm and quiet mind.
“Now, I want you to imagine a green field, Warm sunshine above, and a tree line in the distance.” Amir pictured the scene in his mind. Suddenly, he felt a tightness forming in his throat. The sensation of suffocation increased as he felt the stifling heat, like heavy humidity wrap around him tightly. It was becoming impossible to breathe as his throat, mouth, and nose felt as though they had been stuffed with cotton. Amir panicked fearful for his life. He had forgotten he was in a meditative state, sitting in a room several hundred feet below the ground. He frantically grasped at his throat. As though someone had turned on a light switch, it was over. He was seated on the ground, in a small room with a two-way mirror to his left, looking straight into the black hole eyes of Mateo once more. He panted in panic although all sensations of suffocation had dispersed.
“What the hell just happened?!” Amir exclaimed.
“We call it cottonmouth. It’s a common reaction to the first entry, particularly for Palilas. Your connectivity to the Field is so great that accessing it in this manner opens you up to what equates to a tidal wave of energy. It will get easier the more practice you have. It could also improve if we find someone with more wavelengths in common, although this is merely a theory, as we have come across very few Palilas over the years.” With his heart still racing, Amir found it nearly impossible to follow Mateo’s long-winded explanation. He rubbed his eyes and face with both hands, still struggling to process the simulated near-death experience he had just felt. It certainly did not feel like a simulation at the time.
“I know that this sensation of suffocation felt quite real to you but I assure you, you were never truly in danger.” Mateo delivered the line as though he had a thousand times before, with a calm and professional delivery that felt distant and cold. He stood up and extended his arm to Amir. Amir grabbed it and stood as well, feeling frustration rising in him at the thought of Mateo seemingly having full access to his thoughts.
“That’s it for today. You are free to go.”
Amir looked at the man as though he had just slapped him across the face. The clinical coldness of his tone paired with the incredible power surely held over Amir made him feel vulnerable and exposed. He proceeded to the door without another word to Mateo. Just as he grabbed the handle, anticipating the freedom of being able to leave the presence of that man would bring, Mateo spoke once more.
“Oh, and I’m not reading your thoughts, Amir. You are practically screaming them through the Field.” Amir paused with his hand still grasping the door handle, continuing to face away from Mateo, refusing to make contact with those eyes once more. “Don’t worry. I will teach you how to control this in due time. ”
…..
Mateo looked up from the tablet at the young girl that sat before him in the small testing room. Her chart told him she was 10 years old but she seemed much younger to him as she was slight for her age. She sat there, shoulders hunched, black hair draped over them like a cloak, biting her nails and avoiding eye contact with him.
“Claire, could you tell me what you know about the Avis?” Claire dropped her fingers from her mouth and cupped both hands around her skinny knee caps. Without looking up she said in a near mumble, “I don’t know.”
She was not going to warm up so easily to him. Mateo recalled that Avis children were quite skilled at entering and navigating the Sensory Field on their first try - more so than adults did - as they seemed to be more open to possibility. Some were even able to enter the field on their own, without any guidance. However, he would not be able to enter with her if she remained guarded. He changed his approach.
“How about we play a game,” Mateo suggested. Claire looked up and met his eye line. “Which one?” she asked with a slight intrigue in her voice, somewhat muffled by the fingers that had found their way back into her mouth.
Mateo smiled and said, “To start, all we need to do is close our eyes.” Mateo proceeded to close his, hoping that Claire would follow suit if she saw him do it first. After a few moments, he opened one eye, just a little and found that her eyes were indeed closed.
“Now, let''s imagine we are in a green field, atop a hill. The sun is shining and the wind is warm. There is a forest in the distance all around us.” As Mateo began to lay out the scene, he leaned forward towards Claire, continuing to keep his eyes closed. The scene he was describing began to form around him. The grass was cool beneath his now bare feet. He saw the treeline of the forest circling around him. Everything was nearly exactly how he had described, safe for the weather. Large cold droplets of rain fell from a gray sky above him. The pressure of the rain slowly increased. He looked around in every direction, trying to spot a figure in the distance. Finally, he managed to see something through the thick veil of water. As he walked closer to it, the rain began to let up. He could make out the small dark-haired girl standing several feet from the tree line. Claire stood with her back to him facing something white before her. Mateo could hear her mumbling something to whatever it was. Once he was within a dozen feet of her, he noticed that a white dog sat facing her, wagging his tail. She was talking to it in a low voice, as though telling it a secret.
The scene around them began to melt away and was replaced with the bedroom of a young girl. It was a tidy room with maps on the walls and 4 bookshelves filled with books. There were books everywhere in fact. They seemed to greatly outnumber the amount of stuffed animals and toys placed around the room. To his left, Mateo found a stack of them on a desk. He could not read the title of the one atop the stack, noting that the book was in Lao. His attention was pulled back to the young girl and her dog. Neither had acknowledged him which indicated to Mateo that Claire was able to project a memory using the Field but had not yet figured out how to fully interact with another person while submerged in it. This was a common theme with Avis who had some sensory experience but did not know how to unlock its full potential. Regardless, it was impressive that she was able to remain emotionally stable in the fluidity of the Field realm. Mateo noticed a shift in his emotional state. Due to his extensive understanding of the medium, he identified immediately that she had begun merging the memory with Mateo’s sense of reality; a fairly advanced technique. If she was able to first project a memory then progress into a partial or complete merge with another Avis, it could not be a coincidence. She must have considerable practice. Mateo did not resist the merger, as he was well versed enough in sensory techniques to regain control of the situation if needed.
Looking down at her dog - Tundra - she resumed her point about Samson, the neighbour cat, and Tundra’s friend. “I think she will get you into trouble someday. She is always wandering off and digging up professor Chanthavong’s flower beds.” Tundra relayed his response back to Claire in the form of feelings and images. She felt warm and excited when seeing the flashes of Samson - acknowledging that Tundra felt comfortable with his cat friend and loved digging up the flowers in the garden alongside him. “Okay but the professor won’t care that you were having fun when he is wacking your bottom with a broom!” Tundra expressed disengagement to her in the form of images displaying him walking away to find out what mother was cooking in the kitchen. “Oh well, go on then,” Claire told him while gesturing towards the door. He was never one to stick around for a lecture for any length of time.
Mateo gently began to sever the sensory connections which bound him to Claire’s emotional state and stream of consciousness. Like flipping a switch, the scene around him changed to what he coined the “skeletal view” of the Sensory Field. He could now only see tones of blue and white which outlined the shape of Claire before him. Millions of white lights, like strings, shot out from her in every direction. Some connected directly to him. He looked for the trends connecting the two of them and watched as thousands of them disintegrated into nothingness. Some remained, as they should, which were those that represented the basic connections between all living things within the Field. Once the last of the merger trends had vanished, Mateo found himself in the green field again, next to the forest line. Claire still stood with her back to him, facing the trees. He could sense pain emitting from her and began to draw closer to her to see what had caused this shift. He took exactly 3 steps in her direction before a hail storm smashed down on them, so strong and overwhelming that they both fell out of the Field.
Claire sat before him once more in the small test room with the same concrete gray surrounding them, as it did in every corner of the bunker. Tears were streaming down her small round face and fell into her upturned palms resting on her lap.
“Hey, there. Everything is okay. We have our feet on solid ground again” Mateo said with a warm smile, assuming that the entry into the Field with another Longiavitate was emotionally overwhelming for the young Avis. Claire’s shoulders rose and fell gently with each choked inhale. Mateo considered that this was not about the experience. He explored her sadness somewhat, without diving too deep into her emotional emission, which would be noticeable to anyone, even those with little to no comprehension of the sensory realm. No. This is a familiar pain. Something evoked by a memory, Mateo thought.
“Claire, can you tell me what is making you sad right now?” Mateo crouched slightly, tilting his head to the side to catch her peripheral vision.
Claire shifted in her seat and sighed heavily. “She was making Khao Piak Sen.”
“I’m sorry?” Mateo inquired.
“Mama. She was making wet noodles.”
“Ah I see.” Mateo understood now that she was referring back to the memory she had shared. The meal that had distracted Tundra from her scolding was wet noodles.
“Mama always made it for me when it rained.” Mateo’s heart grew heavy for the girl. The poor child was completely alone in the world now. Just like the rest of them. She was too young to feel such loss, he thought. She dropped her head into her hands and began to sob. Mateo took a sweater off of a hanger on the back of the door and draped it around her shoulders. He wished that he had the ability to lift this grief from her and shoulder it himself. Unfortunately, with all the graces granted by the mutation they shared, it could provide no such solution.
…..
Mateo sat at the small desk next to his bed in the claustrophobic quarters he shared with 10 of his colleagues. The space was designed for two, maybe three people to share; however, everyone had to squeeze in where they could to take in as many survivors as possible.
He reviewed what he had just typed in the document opened on the screen before him:
Subject 1267: Dao, Kalina-Claire, 10 years of age
Classification: Rara Avis
Session 1 Summary: Subject exhibits an intermediate level of skill wielding Sensory Field energy wavelengths. Preliminary entry successful. Subject appears to have connected to K-9 species via field communication. Due to the exhibition of relaxed control of entry and simplistic approach to connectivity with counterparts within the Sensory Field, the subject would be an ideal candidate for pairing with Palilas.
Mateo smiled a half-smile before turning the screen off. Even with all of his years of training, this young child possessed talents with field energy he himself had never mastered. So much could be learned from this truly extraordinary young Avis.
He stood up from the desk, turned out the light and got into bed.