Spirit Unbreakable

It was startling when it was all over the strange feeling of weakness that overcame him. When he had watched the agony fade from his other self he had only to reach out and touch the image in his mind for him to reintegrate his mind, but it felt like forever before his body responded. He couldn’t open his eyes and instead was immersed in what he felt and heard, his steady breath and the kinesthesis of his new appendages. He focused on his breathing while he willed his eyes to open.

The room was awash in twilight when he finally found enough strength to open his eyes. He was lying on his side on a bed, his gaze fixed on an array of monitors that were obscuring his view of an observation window.

He realized when he tried to move that he was still stiff and sore from the ordeal of the rapid growth of his wings, as well as the discomfort of the nasogastric tube down his throat and the IV in his right arm. He felt sticky as well and could see spots of blood spattered on the floor below him.

He grabbed the tube snaking into his nose and slowly withdrew it, coughing and gagging as it slid from his throat. He let it drop onto the hard ground below, the IV following not long after. As he made the effort to sit upright, a shadow passed over him obscuring the low lighting in the room causing Riumi to instantly freeze. When he looked over his shoulder to identify the sudden movement, it dawned on him that it was himself, his wings moving with him, still not quite in his control. He bent his left wing forward closer to his view almost as if to envelope himself and touched it gently. It was an odd sensation for him to feel the tickle of the feathers beneath his fingers and at the same moment feel the sensation of the feathers being touched by his fingers. He jerked his hand away as if it hurt, his mind overwhelmed by this new sense.

Realizing the foolishness of it all, he touched them again, staring at the deep ebony colour of his wings, entranced by the realization that he was finally whole.

He heard a door open with a hiss and look in its direction. A form stood in the doorway, a dark outline against the brilliantly lit corridor. It wasn’t until the door closed tightly that he was able to recognize who was standing in front of him.

“You’re Sira, right?” Riumi said to the figure. His voice was hoarse and dry. The little effort he had taken to sit up and stretch his wings was taking its toll on his ravaged body. Rapid growth had made his body weak.

“Yes. Sorry. I guess I never really introduced myself properly. I’m Bathsira Mahdi, but my friends call me Sira.” She had a bundle of fresh clothing in her hands – sterile cotton pants and shirts and undergarments. She set them gently on the table near Riumi’s bed.

“So Bathsira then,” Riumi replied. He wanted her to leave. Her pretence at friendliness was irritating when he felt so weak.

“Sira is fine. I mean,” She seemed suddenly uncomfortable in his presence. Riumi looked at her and realized that she was wondering if she had made a mistake.

“Are you saying you want to be friends?” Riumi asked. Her uneasiness was kind of amusing.

“Well, I guess that is kind of impossible the way things are right now. But I mean, you’re just a kid and I didn’t approve of the way they treated you. It doesn’t matter if your human or Levanith, you still should be treated with respect.”

“I guess that all depends on if you think that I am here to wipe your kind of the face of the Earth or not.”

“Shanahan doesn’t believe Hader’s accusations of you. He’s been denied access to you and is raising all sorts of hell with the UNG trying to get your situation sorted out.”

“So what do you believe?” Riumi asked. He saw her tense a little and she nervously fiddled with the articles she had brought in.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to believe. I do know that Hader was twisting your words. It’s not like anyone has enough information to truly understand the situation.”

“Except me,” Riumi supplied. “Maybe you shouldn’t think of me as a kid, Bathsira. Maybe Hader was exactly right. I am your enemy. No need to treat me any different.”

Sira jolted at Riumi’s words and looked at him. She remembered his hard cold stare in the airport, and the sudden feeling she had when she confronted him that he was going to be her death, but looking at him now, covered in sticky blood, his ebony wings curled around his still frame, he felt more like a lost angel than the harbinger of death. He seemed to be staring past her into an unseen world, his smoky eyes sad and lost.

“I think you have too much kindness in you to be what Hader thinks you are. Even if your people had plans to take over Earth, I have a feeling you would stand against them in that,” Sira concluded.

Riumi lost his faraway gaze and focused his attention back on Sira. “What makes you think that?”

“Simple, Riumi. If it wasn’t for your kind nature, you wouldn’t be here in this prison. You simply would have fled instead of trying everything in your power to save that little girl. If you wanted to destroy human beings, you wouldn’t have tried so hard to save one. I know you’re young, but don’t let Hader manipulate you so easily. The one thing I have learned about this world is that people like Hader can twist anything you say to fit their constructed reality. The only way to fight back against that is to not fall into the trap and keep what you believe firm in your mind and heart.”

“So why did they let you come and talk to me anyway?” Riumi asked. He was starting to be glad for it, whatever the reason was. He never thought a few words from a kind soul could save him from spiralling into his own self-loathing.

I may not know what the Levanith’s intentions were in sending me here, but at least Bathsira is right, I don’t have to be what they want me to be. I can choose to fight against them if it comes to that. I’ll find out the truth, no matter what, and then make my decisions from there.

“Well, it was kind of a long conversation. In the end, let’s just say they thought we would all be better off if you were more cooperative,” Sira said and finally handed the clothing she had brought in to Riumi.

Riumi had retreated behind another cold mask which made Sira take a few steps back. “I see,” was his only reply.

Sira thought back to what she had just said and flushed. “I don’t really think that came out right. It’s not like I’m being nice to make you more cooperative, Riumi –”

“It’s just a convenient by-product.”

“No, it’s just that this whole situation is really awful.”

“Is there somewhere I could go and clean up?” Riumi finally asked.

Sira nodded and pointed to a door off to the left of the room and turned to leave. “I’m sure if our circumstances were different, we would have been good friends, Riumi.”

“However, circumstances are as they are, Bathsira, and we will never know how it could have been.”

She heard the dismissal in his statement and stopped herself from asking again for him to call her Sira. She had a feeling that he never would and she didn’t blame him. Someone who helps keep you a prisoner can never be considered a friend, no matter how kind they are to you. She was glad that she had left the room before Riumi could see the tears forming in her eyes. She felt terribly sad for that lonely boy, and ashamed at herself for thinking that she could help alleviate any of that loneliness.

The warm water on his skin was invigorating, giving his tired body a little bit of life again. It felt good to clean the sticky blood from his body. He watched the pink tinged water circle the drain below him and clenched his fist. He was determined to find out the truth now. No matter what that truth was, even if it meant that he was the enemy. Just because that may have been his purpose here, he could choose to do what was right. If it turns out that my people were really trying to take over Earth, I will do whatever it takes to atone for their sins. I define myself. I shape my purpose. He wouldn’t let himself be broken by them.

They left Riumi in relative solitude for a few days, only the occasional doctor coming in to check his vitals and study him. He found their interruptions into his solitude unwelcome as he had decided to take this time to strengthen himself for whatever was to come. He was trying desperately in the confined space he had to figure out the workings of his new appendages. The dimensions of the room were pretty comfortable, not at all confining, the room having to be quite large for the monitoring equipment that his captors had used. The ceiling in the room was about twenty feet high, crisscrossed with pipes all painted the same white as the walls. The room was lit with sconces lower down on the wall, leaving shadows playing high above. Every morning since his awakening and talk with Sira, he moved aside his bed and the other equipment in the room and began his exercises. As he had no bokken to practice kendo with, he reverted instead to karate which he found to be quite a challenge with his wings. He was constantly frustrated by his wings moving seemingly on their own when he tried certain maneuvers and after a few days of trying to modify his exercises to compensate for his wings, he decided instead to focus on controlling his entire body, wings include.

This day he was currently standing in the middle of the room focusing on each wing individually, extending, stretching and settling them back against his body. He found playing with the muscles in his wings like this much like moving his arms. After spending fifteen minutes on this deliberate isolation of movement, he moved into synchronous movement of his wings. This was even more instinctual than moving his arms, more like walking. He didn’t think of them separately at all, but as a unit moving him upward.

So caught up in this exhilarating movement, he was startled when the force of the wind created by his wings pushed him backwards towards the wall and sent some equipment on a table in front of him flying to the floor. He gave a startled laugh and steadied himself. He had thought this whole process would be a lot harder, forgetting for a moment that his very being was made for this, had been waiting for this.

He looked to the ceiling and the pipes crossing overhead and suddenly had a goal for his training. Looking upwards, he began to use his wings, beating them faster and faster. He felt his feet lift off the ground and had a sudden moment of panic. Unsteady, supported just by his wings, he tilted to one side and came crashing back down to the floor. Lying on his side, huffing with the exertion, he couldn’t help the smile that broke on his face. He was starting to feel stronger and stronger every day and his resolve to find out the truth, no matter where it led, grew along with that strength.

After another week of not hearing from Hader, Sira or Shanahan, Riumi’s strength and control felt better than ever. He found himself able to coordinate flight in the confined space that he had reaching the ceiling with relative ease. This was where he was when Hader finally reappeared in his life. As the door to his cell opened, Riumi was high on the ceiling doing chin-ups on one of the pipes. When he heard the door open he stopped his current motion and hung from the pipe instead staring down into the room below. He saw Hader looking up at him with a scowl.

“I see that you have been keeping yourself busy,” Hader spoke patronizingly.

Riumi let go of the pipe and spread his wings to soften the landing as he arrived back at the floor. He looked Hader in the eyes as he folded his wings against his back.

“I’m surprised that you let me do what I’ve done over the past ten days,” Riumi replied.

“I’m sure had I been aware of your activities it might have been different. Fortunately for you, I had certain things I needed to deal with. Now that I am back, I am sure we can find you smaller accommodations.” Hader gestured for Riumi to follow him out the door and Riumi complied.

As he stepped outside the door, two guards took up position behind him. He was not nearly as perturbed at the idea of being a prisoner as he had been at the beginning. For all he knew, the UNG were in the right in all of this. Riumi and the Levanith could very well be the danger they perceived them to be. I have to find out the truth.

Hader was strangely silent until they reached their destination, a large reinforced metal door. Once they arrived, Hader turned to Riumi and spoke, “I expect your full cooperation, Takahashi. Make any suspicious actions and I will not hesitate to have you eliminated.”

The door before them opened to reveal a cavernous sized room. Riumi could see a small foreign looking console standing beside a large round ring. Various human made computers and equipment seemed to be attached to the small console. He remembered this device from his memories. This was the bridge from Earth back to his home, Vespen. Staring in awe at the large construct, Riumi became aware that Hader was once again talking.

“In the two years that we have had this device very little has been unlocked from it. The protection on the console is beyond anything my technicians have ever encountered. Aside from the serum that exposed you, we were able to find extensive star charts which we have been analyzing with our own database. Your species seems to have explored a much more extensive part of our galaxy than we have been able to achieve. We have not, however, been able to access any of the controls of the Einstein-Rosen bridge. It looks as if their controls are genetically encoded to respond, well, to you.”

By this time Riumi found himself standing next to the Levanith console.

“You are here to get the Einstein-Rosen bridge working and translate the device from your Levanith language into Earth common. You also will unlock the console and give the technicians here unrestricted access to its functions.”

Riumi stared at the console, clearly seeing where he was to place his hand to activate the machine; however, he did not comply with Hader’s instructions. Instead, he stood his ground and glared at the older man.

“What happens to me once that is accomplished? Clearly once you have access to this device my presence will no longer be required. You have made it clear that you do not appreciate my presence on Earth.”

“I’m sure that you will prove an interesting specimen to the scientists in the LD Division.”

Riumi blanched despite the fact that he figured that his death and dissection would be the ultimate end to his confinement here. It being spoken bluntly out loud made his stomach flip. Why Hader would tell him such a thing when he wanted Riumi’s compliance was beyond his comprehension. Riumi was about to flatly refuse to conform to this request, having nothing to gain until he realized with a sinking resignation that despite his vehement hatred of Hader, he loved Earth and could not bring himself to watch it or its inhabitants be destroyed. Accessing this machine was the only way for him to know for sure the truth behind his presence on Earth. Invasion or sanctuary? This Einstein-Rosen bridge held the answer.

I have to give Earth a chance to fight back if my people do intend to invade. I can’t watch Mikomi’s home be destroyed. Resigning himself, he set his palm against the cold metal and felt a tingling warmth enter his hand. The console lit up and spoke in Levanith which surprisingly Riumi completely understood.

“Please identify yourself for verification purposes,” the computer spoke.

“Riumi Odasell betrothed of Shylaya Sentralon.”

“Voice analysis confirmed. Stand by for DNA confirmation.” Riumi felt a slight prick at the tip of his pointer finger which made him wince slightly.

“DNA confirmed, imprinting access code.” Riumi puzzled looked at Hader who was standing to his left staring at the console uncomprehendingly.

“It said it is imprinting an access code,” Riumi said just as he felt a warmth and stinging pain on the back of his right hand. He jerked his hand away from the console suddenly and watched as a black marked began to crawl across the back of his hand. It formed the Levanith symbol when it was done. Hader grabbed his hand sharply.

“What just happened?” Hader asked showing his hand to some of the scientists that had gathered.

“It looks like a tattoo,” one of them replied.

“Felt like my skin was burning,” Riumi said.

“Do you wish us to investigate this phenomenon, Director Johnson?” Another scientist asked quickly taking a picture of Riumi’s hand.

“That can come later. Right now, all I care about is getting this machine functioning and seeing what is on the other side of that gate. Get back to work, Takahashi.”

Riumi turned back to the console. It seemed to still be running despite his hand no longer being present on its surface. So instead of placing his hand back on the console, he instead spoke in Levanith, the words coming back to him in broken phrases.

“Computer, are you able to… construct a map of…. Galaxy?” Riumi asked.

In response to his command a holographic image burst into existence filling the cavernous room with a representation of the Milky Way galaxy. Riumi stared at it in awe. He was encircled by one of the arms of the spiral galaxy and reached out to touch the realistic representation. When his hand came into contact with the spiral arm it broke apart and zoomed closer in, showing better views of the stars in that area and the solar systems that circled them. Hader stood beside Riumi also awed.

“I gather that this is new,” Riumi said.

“We could never get the console to run on its own. Earth does not have holographic technology this advanced,” Hader replied.

Riumi touched one of the stars near him and it zoomed in closer showing designations of each planetary body and star in Levanith. “Computer, can we see this information in Earth common?”

“Complying.” It responded in common. All the information began to flicker from Levanith to Earth common. Riumi looked closely at the solar system he saw before him. It was not Earth’s solar system and did not seem to be Vespen’s either, instead he saw four planets circling a single star. Only one of the four planets had a label, Druagg. Curious as to why that planet had a label, Riumi reached to touch its surface and expand the planet. However, Hader grabbed his hand midair and turned him aside.

“Enough playing with the hologram, Takahashi, give access to my team.” Hader said.

Riumi turned back to the console. “Computer, grant unrestricted access to Director Hader Johnson.”

“Verification needed, please place hand on the sensor pad.” Hader stepped up to the console and placed his hand on its surface. Riumi watched as Hader’s face twitched slightly as the computer took a blood sample. After a few minutes, the computer spoke once again, “Unable to comply. Subject Director Haden Johnson is neither Levanith nor Shidenen and therefore ineligible for unrestricted access to the system.” Hader looked perturbed by this statement.

“What are the requirements for unrestricted access?” Riumi asked.

“Subject must have Levanith DNA present to proceed to unlimited access.”

Riumi looked at Hader and smirked. “Guess my usefulness just increased. I guess you could also use this machine to test for Levanith infiltration of the people of Earth.”

Hader grabbed Riumi’s arm violently. “Do not think that I won’t hesitate to have you executed, Takahashi. I am sure that we could find one of these Shidenen who would cooperate with us.”

He let go of Riumi and shoved him towards the console. “Find the coordinates to your planet.”

After gaining his composure, Riumi glanced at the holographic map again. “Computer, please show me the location of Vespen in relation to Earth.” The hologram minimized the view of the planet Druagg back out to a view of the same spiral arm. It drew a line from the position of Earth near the outer edge of the arm towards the inner part of the same arm where Vespen nestled. Riumi noted in his mind that the named planet, Druagg, was in a solar system close to where Vespen resided.

“Perfect. Finally a location for the invaders,” Hader said. “Do we have a probe ready?” He turned to one of the technicians who nodded showing a small levitating sphere which he was controlling from a Flimsy.

Hader turned back to Riumi. “Activate the gate.”

“Right now? What if this gate works both ways? Couldn’t that open the way for my planet’s invasion?” Riumi asked.

“We have countermeasures in place. That is of no worry to you. Just fulfill your function, alien.”

Riumi cringed at the word. “Computer, activate a bridge from Earth to Vespen.”

“Complying.” The computer spoke. A humming started in the room. A pale blue glow began to emanate from the ring, followed by a rippling at the bottom of the circle. Soon they were staring at a distorted tunnel. Riumi stared at it in awe. His home was only steps away. He could run through the gateway and escape this place. Everyone seemed to be as entranced as he was over the function of the bridge. No one was paying much attention to Riumi and he was so close to the gate that he could make it through before anyone stopped him. Readying himself for the sprint he momentarily hesitated at the thought that had made him help Hader to begin with, that through that gate were enemies of Earth. It might have been his home once, but Earth was his home now. He couldn’t abandon it. He couldn’t abandon Mikomi.

Instead of running to his freedom, he watched as the probe went to the surface of the bridge and disappeared after which chaos erupted. Sparks began to emanate from the console and a pulse of electricity knocked Riumi and Hader back forcefully. With the surge of energy, the surface of the bridge faltered and the blue glow died along with the holographic map of the galaxy. Riumi lay on the ground staring at the gateway, vision blurred, consciousness leaving him.