Today was messed up. I went into lab 6, right on time as per the instruction. Archie and Zinnia were with me. By seeing the looks on their faces I could easily tell that Zinnia is grateful for her career choice in commerce, and Archie regrets picking science.
That's when I saw it. The robot. It had a single word on its screen. "Turn,"
Archie, ever the naive soul, was the first to turn around. His naturally tan skin turned ten shades lighter at the sight. I didn't look back though. I only saw Archie's reactions. He looked speechless, as if he had just seen a ghost.
Actually, that's the only word he said the whole time we were in there. Ghost.
The robot's screen changed again.
"Dead man walking."
This freaked Zinnia out, so she subconsciously turned towards the door to escape. But it looked as if she had been frozen in place, even though I knew she could move - it's just that she was too shocked.
"No... no this can't be possible." I heard her whisper to herself. "We saw the corpse... we read the letter and all but... I..."
The robot changed its display once again. "Your turn." The word turn was underlined. As I turned, so did the robot. It moved to stand beside its owner.
And there he was. Dr. Lead Carbon, standing there silently, very much alive. My dad, in the flesh.
Archie managed to find his voice, barely a whisper. "Ghost..."
Zinnia finally snapped out of her trance, her eyes wide with shock and fear. "Dad? How... how is this possible?"
Lead remained silent, his eyes scanning the room, taking in our reactions. The robot's screen flickered once more.
"Answers in due time."
I felt a chill run down my spine. Everything we thought we knew was unraveling before our eyes. What could possibly explain this? And what did Dad want from us?
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked the robot, not facing Dad. "In due time... when?"
Dad finally spoke up. "Aurelia..." he said. "We need to stop her."
Zinnia's face lit up with a mix of joy and disbelief, tears flowing down her face. She rushed towards our dad, wrapping her arms around him.
I stood there, unable to look him in the eye. My emotions were a confusing mix of relief, anger, and uncertainty. "Why did you do it?" I mumbled, barely audible.
Archie, still pale and shaken, continued to stare at Dad as if he might vanish at any moment.
Dad gently pulled Zinnia away, his expression serious. "I had to stay hidden. Aurelia is more dangerous than any of you know. She has a plan, and it's up to us to stop her."
"Why should we trust you?" I asked, still looking at the robot, my voice trembling. "You faked your death, and now you're asking us to join you?"
Dad's eyes softened as he looked at me. "Aura, I did what I had to do to protect you. To protect all of us. I need you to understand that."
Zinnia, still clinging to our dad, our resident dead man walking, nodded fervently. "We'll help you, Dad. We have to. Whatever it takes."
I took a deep breath, trying to process everything. Archie, on the other hand, finally found his voice again. "If what you're saying is true... then we need to know everything. No more secrets."
Dad nodded. "Agreed. But first, we need to get out of here. Aurelia's eyes are everywhere, and we don't have much time."
That was an obvious distraction, meant to throw us off.
We exited lab 6 through an odd little trap door under a table, possibly one of dad's little projects over three years of absenteeism. In hindsight, I now wonder if my house has any trapdoors.
The trap door started with a ladder going down. I silently went on. When we descended, it was quite dark. I felt a shiver down my spine. There was dim lighting, just the bare minimum for my dad to see through and navigate.
I felt a sharp, sudden grip on my arm. "No... This feels too soft." I heard a mutter from my left side. The voice was too soft to make out who it might have been, but my instincts told me to punch the air, looking for some sort of a mutated lab experiment.
In a swift motion, I swung my arm, only to hear a yelp of pain. "Ow! Aura, it's me!" Archie hissed, clutching his stomach.
I blinked, realizing my mistake. Archie, terrified and lost in the dark, had grabbed my arm, thinking it might be a wall to cling to.
"Archie," I said, folding my hand in. "Next time, warn me before you grab onto me like that."
Archie muttered an apology, still rubbing his wrist.
"My sweet, sweet sister..." Zinnia shook her head slowly.
Dad led the way through the dimly lit tunnel, his expression unwavering. "We're almost there," he whispered. "Stay close and be quiet."
The secret room was surprisingly simple, with the bare necessities for people to meet, like a table and multiple chairs.
Dad sat down at a chair, then motioned for all of us to grab some chairs and sit with him.
"Do you remember all the stories I told you girls?" He started. "About my time travel, and my friends' own powers. I am all for the powerless life. If it's not broken, why fix it?"
I still couldn't see him the same way. "But trust me - powers are unnatural. They were never meant to exist. That's why Aurelia was absent for the signing, and l signed on behalf of her. Aurelia, she... she's a force of nature, she wanted powers reinstated. I had to escape. This is why she's been keeping radioactives. She's bringing back powers. This will endanger human society as we know it."
"So..." I raised an eyebrow. "Why are we involved?"
"Because you're her next test subjects. I don't know what became of the radioactives and their tests, but she's going to use you. You remember the scan you took, on the first or second day?"
I remember that. It was just an all-round health checkup, or so she said. It's to check how stable your health compared to your elements are.
"She's hiding a lot..." Archie said, nodding. "And we're going to find out soon enough..."
***
The afternoon Aurelia session was normal. Not much happened, just Aurelia being Aurelia.
I feel like dad is right. Aurelia didn't do a practical session. She handed out worksheets on creative writing instead.
"As science enthusiasts, the arts may feel foreign to you. I understand the feeling - I always felt that learning history in so much detail is quite pointless practically. You may have different views, and I respect that, but I personally have never liked it." went her speech.
"But what I do know is that a good grammar is essential no matter what stream you are in. Complete the worksheet, then submit it to my desk by the end of the workshop."
The worksheet was mostly just a ruled page, with a prompt printed at the top.
"Write a short story on how a day in your life would go, if you had your elemental powers."
You get the hint.
ns 15.158.61.19da2
