The Ring of Acies

Chapter Eleven: Rethinking the Future

A mind floats aimlessly in the void, detached from any form or identity. It tries to process its situation, but there is nothing to see, feel, hear, smell, or taste. It convulses silently in the void. It feels a need to do, to be, to feel, but it cannot. It begins to descend into madness, but then it receives something. A name, an identity. The mind remembers a name. Terrine. Yes, it was called Terrine. The mind remembers another name. Aciin. The one who tore it from its source. The mind reaches out and grabs onto this new data. It pulls, it struggles, it feels as if it were pulling itself out of a deep pit of mud or quicksand. But as it struggles and pulls, it receives more data. Faces, names, sounds, feelings, friends, family. The mind remembers a body, young, athletic, female, soft almond-brown skin, long curly brown hair, sparkling jade-green eyes. 'This is mine,' the mind tells itself. This is Terrine. It remembers the station where she was born and still lives. It remembers its friends and family. It remembers Avener, Stannous, and Nevistri. The mind's memory returns, the good and the bad. It remembers where it was when it left its body. It remembers what it saw afterwards. It remembers the Aciin, the being who set it free. At last, its senses return. She smells cheap air freshener. She tastes the plastic hose in her mouth. She feels the soft sheets and the belts holding her down. Activating the muscles in the body she has returned to, she forces her eyes open. The room is bright. As her eyes adjust, she realizes she is not alone. As they focus, she sees that she is in a hospital. She hears voices around her. Some familiar, others not. She hears the distinctive, commanding voice of the one she called Argentum:

"Get that tube out of her mouth. She's awake."

She feels the plastic removed from her mouth, and she instinctively coughs. She breathes again. She is back. Terrine sits up in her hospital bed. Sitting beside her are Argentum, Avener, and Xene.

"Where am I? How long have I been out?" Terrine asks. Her vocal cords feel as if she is using them for the first time.

"You're in a hospital in Biz.," Argentum says in a calm voice. "You were transferred here from P. Op. yesterday after they confirmed that you weren't in any mortal danger. You've been unconscious for three days."

"What happened?"

Argentum goes to answer her question, but before he can say anything, Surveillance Captain Rhobus Natri and Nevistri enter the room carrying bulbs of steaming amber liquid. They hand out the drinks and sit down.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Natri says.

"It's good to see you're finally awake," Nevistri says with relief.

"Thank you all for coming." Terrine says. "You really didn't have to."

"Anything for a good friend," Avener says. "When the captain reached out to us, we came as soon as we could."

"What do you remember? That you can tell us, of course." Argentum asks.

"The Aciin, sorry, the Acies-UC-101, started to mimic me. It changed itself into a humanoid form and put its hand on the window. I put my hand over its and everything went black."

Argentum and Natri can see the effort that Terrine is putting into not saying the rest.

"Um... Ms. Orisan, Mr. and Mx. Skillon, could you give us a moment alone, please?" Natri asks.

"Yeah, of course," Avener says.

They leave the room and close the door behind them. Once Terrine is sure they are out of earshot, she tells them:

"Everything didn't go black after we touched the window. It reached out to me again, differently than before." She says.

Argentum looks at her and Natri. Terrine sees what he is implying.