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Jane sighs. She looks to her left, then to her right. She sighs once more and rolls her eyes up and down.
*Is something wrong with her? Is she really hurt?* Sam thinks. He wants to know if something has happened to her and asks again, *Jane, are you hurt?* She pulls her legs towards her chest and holds them tight. *You don’t look okay, Jane! What happened?* Jane looks up and stares at the ceiling. She stretches out her legs and falls back to lay on the ground. She tells Sam, *Hey, can you lay down beside me?* She places her hands on her tummy.
Sam, without hesitation, slides off the log to the ground, facing her. Jane smiles for a brief moment and asks Sam, *What do you think happened? Did you see or hear anything? Were you there the entire time?*
Sam takes inhales deeply, exales, and sighs. He copies her and lays back with his feet facing Jane's. He places his hands on his tummy.
*I saw almost everything. From the moment you were fighting like a badass to where they started kicking and punching, leaving you with nothing to do to defend yourself, it was like you were blacked out or something. I wasn’t really there, though*
**What do you mean, you saw everything but weren’t there?**
Sam answers, *japp, japp. It's exactly as I said*
Jane is a bit surprised. She has imagined something extraordinary happening, but not what Sam is talking to her about. Her surprised look quickly changed into a trusted one. With finger signs, she fully opens up her suit and takes it off. She sits upright, facing Sam. She places her head on her right knee.
*Tell me more about... everything!* She pulls his legs and spins Sam around before stretching out her legs to place Sam's head on them. She strokes through his dreads.
*You see...* He pauses to think and continues. *My power lies in speed, it seems, but somehow, I think there is more to it. It feels like something that doesn't belong to me, like some kind of greater power. I haven’t figured it out yet. But it feels like I have large reserves. I might need to find out where my max is and what I’m capable of doing. I only know that right now, there is almost nothing I can’t do. My only issue is control. I can’t control my abilities well; sustaining my energy is hard.
I can run fast, like reeaally fast. The problem is that I can't run for long and am trying to stop. I can’t run like I did before; there is no normal running for me anymore. Do you wanna know what it feels like to run?*
*Sure!* Jane answers. Her curiousity is at its peak.
*Ight! It feels like something keeps pushing and pulling on me. It could be air, or maybe the god of nature, or space; I don't know. Imagine a plane flying through a storm, or the storm deliberately hitting from the side and moving the flaps. That's what it feels like. Can you imagine? For a distance, you are pulled back and forth; for the next, you are flying and pulled to the left and right, and up and down. Consistently reacting. *Stopping is also not easy to do. My timing is always wrong. I miss the chance to move slower bit by bit and end up flying for real*
Jane stops stroking his hair for a second and adds, *Maybe I can help with that. But what about the seeing stuff? Does it have something to do with running? Because you are bending light and time at your speed?*
Sam starts laughing and says, *I wish! Unfortunately, I ain’t that fast. Maybe a little. Before running, I just imagine everything being very far away from me, like decreasing the size of my pupils. Like bending space, light looks bent. Space is curved, and the distance feels greater. It helps me a bit. It’s this focussing kind of thing.
I was working on retracting my pupils and found out I have a talent for it, so I came up with a theory; "What if space is bent in my sight and everything seems farther than it is in reality?
I focused on it and added the pupil-retractions. I figured I could let loose an amount of energy and perceive more. This gave me the idea of trying to use it another way. I focused on letting a small amount of energy into the atmosphere. Small enough that I could regenerate faster than I use it, though it doesn't matter because I have more than enough of it. I spread it out to make it thin, thinner than air, more like light—so there is no pressure or weight with it. It can't be seen or felt. Well, it worked on the first try. It just hurt pretty bad the first time. I could sense, see, smell, and taste everything there was, even the sky. I am one of the first human beings to see them.
I asked myself again, „What if I just focus on a few things in the meantime until I get used to it?“ I tried finding things in my apartment and looking through the building to see what my neighbors were doing. That was one big mistake!!* He scratches his scalp and laughs awkwardly.
Jane laughs with him. *Let me guess, you saw a few naked moments you really didn’t mean to see?* Sam raises both thumbs and whispers, *yupp*.
He continues, *Anyway, I wanted to see you because we haven’t talked for a long while, so I looked through your home, garage, and workshop, but you weren’t there. I intensively focused every ounce of concentration I had on you, and then suddenly, you were there, but in your suit. I watched the entire fight and admired your moves.. until, yeah, you know what... happened. What was wrong?*
She tells Sam not to laugh after hearing what has happened out there. Sha says, *It is an energy problem. Then Suit ran out of energy. It freezes as soon as the battery is low. The reserved energy is to keep it unharmed from the outside. I have tried to find a solution, but until then, I have to live with this issue. The suit was finished about three months ago, so apparently it isn’t enough time to come up with something stable.* Sam tilts his head to the left, turns around to look at her, and asks, *Now why the hell would I want to laugh about it?*
Jane is embarrassed.
*Well, someone like me shouldn’t have a problem finding a solution. I am terrible; I am useless! Look at my dad! He figured out a way to use the rings around our planet. At the same age as I am right now. Look how hard they are working under his leadership to create new islands. And what have I done until now? All I have done is build little machines for you, the suit, and this massive machine that exploded or imploded, I dunno, after the first run. It is not enough, Sam! I am useless!* She begins to cry.
Sam holds her hand and strokes it with his fingers. He calms her down by telling her, *You aren’t useless, Jane! You are amazing! Just look at your suit; it was made by discovering a new type of technology. Right now, you are preparing for a patent, which means your dad was never able to achieve this level. Sure, of course he discovered there is atmosphere out there, just like down here on earth-I-C, and that we can live up there, and that transportation will be very important, so what? With your technology, you can figure out the transportation before he even gets there. The machine was made to be destroyed. There was nothing you could have done! Jane, I think you are more special than you think you are. Probably more special than anyone and everyone I know and will know. Now, can you please continue stroking? It feels amazing; don’t stop!* Jane smiles and continues stroking his hair.
Sam continues, *Listen, I have been working on projects myself, a suit, and an energy sphere. I have a few designs at home. The suit was proven kind of useless because somehow I do have powers, everything I wanted to do with the suit, I can do now without it, I hope. We could work on it together for you! There is something you should know, though: I was kind of goofing around with it, and came up with a goofy design mechanism or something like that. At a specific speed with specific movements, of course, when it is activated, it plays melodies—something jazzy.
We might need to get rid of that.*
Sam pulls out his phone and plays different jazz songs to explain to her what kind of jazz he is talking about. Jane stops stroking and leans forward to look at his face. She says, *Sam! You are a genius! I haven’t yet seen it, but I think it’s amazing, and the problem with the song—let’s not make it a problem. I want it to stay as an original concept. Let's keep it soft. When I’m trying to make my last move and start walking, it will be all JAZZ, JAZZ, JAZZ, JAZZ, you know? And it will remind me of one amazing thing, or someone.* she winks.
Sam laughs out loud and says, *Well, that was unexpected! What name should we give you in that suit?*
Silence...
They shout at the same time while looking at each other. *JAZZ!!!!!!*
Chapter 29, end.
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The creator's staff
AdventureFirst arc - Genesis ... Innocence is a state. Sam discovers a new nature to his world, and needs to adapt fast to understand his purpose. In a world full of gods, WHO ARE YOU? How do you claim a place? Note: I write as a hobby and appreciate every...
