It has
been far too long since I posted any excerpts here on my blog. Part of the
reason was that Friday Fiction dwindled away, though I would love to see it
return with many of my writer friends from Faithwriters and beyond.
For this new entry, I’ve posted the opening scene from last year’s NaNoWriMo
project, “The Daedalus Episodes.” One of the stories in the Pod series is “The
Daedalus Child,” about a young man born with his arms engineered as wings, who
ends up as the living model for an animated superhero character, Daedalus. I
had thought for a while about writing some of the stories about the superhero
version of the character, and so made that my NaNo project last year. This
story is still in the original draft stage, and I expect to begin revising it
sometime soon, but for your reading pleasure, here is the introduction of the
character who will become Daedalus.
The
Daedalus Episodes
by Rick Higginson
Episode
1 Scene
1
She walked between two deputies
without pausing, earning her condemning looks and a staccato challenge. In
response, she flashed her ID over her shoulder and continued without looking
behind her. Once inside, she went straight to the small office in back and
entered without knocking. “Are you in charge here?”
The sergeant stood up. “I’m going to
assume, ma’am, from your demeanor that you’re with the Feds.”
“Nancy Rich.” She opened her ID
again. “Domestic Security. I’m told you have a ‘specimen’ that is of interest
to us.”
“I’m Sergeant Jeremiah, and I’m the
ranking deputy on site.” He took a closer look at her ID. “Yeah, we got a
‘specimen,’ though that’s an interesting way to describe it.”
“Take me to it, please.”
He squeezed by her in the tight
confines of the office. “This way, ma’am.” Gesturing to two other deputies
standing beside a security door, he waited until one unlocked it and held it
open for them. “None of us has ever seen the likes of this – thing – before, so I hope you understand
the additional security.”
“Understood. How was it captured?”
“Two of my deputies were on patrol
and found themselves in a weird storm yesterday. They pulled off to the side to
wait it out, when they said it just dropped into the bushes a short ways in
front of them. It was unconscious when they got to it, so they bundled it up
and brought it here.”
“I see. Has it regained
consciousness?”
“Yes, ma’am, about two hours ago.”
“Has it given you any difficulties?”
“No, ma’am. It’s just huddled in the
back corner of the holding cell. We tried talking to it, but it never responded
to anything we said.”
They stepped in front of the cell.
At the rear wall, a human-like head poked just above a wrinkled flesh-colored
membrane.
“What’s it hiding behind?”
“Best I can describe it, ma’am, is
that the thing has wings, kind of like a bat.”
She considered the information, and
slowly exhaled a deep breath. “Are there cameras monitoring this area?”
“Of course.”
“I want them shut off. No video or
audio recording, and I want all your people out of this area before I approach
the specimen.”
“With all due respect, ma’am, I’d
strongly advise against that. We don’t have any idea what it’s liable to do if
approached.”
“Look at the face, sergeant. I’d say
it’s about the equivalent of mid to late teens in age, and it’s terrified. It
woke up locked in a cell, held by people it didn’t know.” She raised her eyes
to meet the sergeant’s, and smiled. “The reason I’m here is that I am very good
at what I do, and I don’t anticipate having any trouble with the specimen.” She
pulled a folded piece of paper from her purse. “If you need any more
convincing, this is the order giving me custody and authority over the specimen
and the situation. Unlock the cell, and leave me to do my job.”
He read over the document before
giving her a skeptical look. “I’d feel a whole lot better if you’d at least
allow me and another of my deputies to remain here and keep an eye on you, just
in case.”
“Go, and turn off all the monitoring
equipment.” Her expression turned stern. “And close the door behind you.”
When he had complied, she opened the
cell door slowly. Before entering, she removed a small device from her purse,
pressed a switch, and then placed it on the flat cross bar midway up the cell
wall. The specimen watched her as she approached, but made no move either
towards her, or to try and keep as much distance between them as it could in
the small confines.
Crouching in front of him, she
pulled a tiny earpiece from a container in her purse. She held it where the
specimen could see it, before she slowly reached to put it in his ear.
Her hand moved involuntarily away
from its head, so she held her other hand where it could see, and then made a
show of removing an identical earpiece from her own ear. She placed the first
one into her other ear, and then again reached to place her own in its ear.
This time, she was able to insert it, and then leaned back. “Can you understand
me now? Nod your head if you can.”
Its expression turned to puzzlement,
but it nodded.
“Good. What I just gave you is a
translator device. Do you have a name?”
“I am called Adedeles.”
“I am called Nancy. Are you hurt,
Adedeles?”
“I am bruised from the fall, but
nothing serious. What is this place? Why is everyone I see crippled?”
“That will take some explaining, but
for the moment, you are safe. Can you stand and walk?”
“Yes.” With a little effort, it rose
to its feet, holding its wings folded in front of it.
“May I look you over, to see if you
have any injuries you are not aware of?”
It held its wings out slightly,
revealing a sling-type garment that wrapped over both shoulders and then
through the crotch. He turned about, allowing her to examine his lean frame and
fleshy wings.
“You have a few scrapes back here,
too, but nothing that looks worrisome. I need to get you away from here. Will
you come with me?”
“Will you answer my questions if I
do?”
“Yes, I promise, I will answer all
of them to the best of my ability.” She took the blanket from the bunk. “Let me
drape this over you for now.” She wrapped the blanket over his shoulders,
bringing it around for him to grip with his thumbs, which were the only digit
he had that resembled a human finger. “For now, don’t speak until we are away
from this place. It will be safer for you if the people here see you as quiet
and passive.”
“I have been quiet and passive since
I woke up here.”
She smiled, and placed her hand
lightly on his back through the blanket. She took her jamming device from the
crossbar and placed it back in her purse as they walked through the cell door. The
outer door opened to her knock, and she led Adedeles out into the main room of
the substation.
Most of the deputies backed away,
some with their hands moving towards their holstered weapons as they formed a
loose circle around her.
Nancy waved her hand. “Your fears
are unfounded. He presents no threat to any of you.”
One of the deputies kept his hand
near his sidearm. “Where are you taking it?”
“Your sergeant has my authorization
to take him into Domestic Security custody. You didn’t really think you were
going to keep him here indefinitely, did you?”
“There should be more than just
you.”
She strode over in front of the
deputy, with Adedeles staying just behind her. She was a good eight inches
shorter than the muscular deputy, and he gazed at her with unmasked doubt. “You
think I can’t take care of myself, deputy?”
“Let’s just say I think this
warrants more than just one middle-aged, overweight woman.” He cut his eyes
between her and Adedeles, keeping his hand poised over his pistol.
“You’re an idiot.” With a swift
motion, she snatched the pistol from his holster, ejected the magazine and
cleared the chamber. Before the pistol hit the floor, she seized his hand and
swept his legs from beneath him. As the pistol clattered on the tile, she
pinned him down and looked about the room. “Anyone else want to doubt my
ability to take care of myself?”
Sergeant Jeremiah raised his voice.
“All right, people. That’s enough. Stand down and allow Agent Rich to do her
job.”
She released the deputy. “Thank you
sergeant.” Everyone continued to stare at her, some fearfully. She laughed
gently to help ease some of the tension. “If you’re worried I’m going to pull
out some flashy device and erase your memories, I can assure you that
technology has not been invented yet, that I’m aware of, and you’re all going
to be talking about this tomorrow. You might want to keep the talk amongst
yourselves for now, just in case the Government decides to classify this, but I
have no way to make you forget what you’ve seen.”
She
ushered Adedeles out the door and to her van. Every deputy followed them out
and watched as she settled her charge in the vehicle. Without another word to
the assembled officers, she got into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and
pulled back onto the highway.
Once she was a few miles up the road
and confident none of the deputies were following, she adjusted the mirror to
look at Adedeles. “All right. This should be private enough for your questions.
As to your first question, you are still on Earth, just not the Earth you are
familiar with.”
“I do not understand.”
“You were caught in a storm.
Describe the storm to me.”
“I had never seen a storm like it
before. I was trying to get to shelter, but I could not seem to fly against
it.” He hesitated a moment. “I thought I must have injured my head, because I
thought I saw…” He looked out the side window of the van. “It was not possible,
though.”
“You saw another world.”
“How did you know?”
She stopped the van in a roadside
turnout, and then twisted in the seat to face him. “Because I saw one in the
storm that brought me here from my Earth, many years ago.”
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