"Hello," I greet the strange woman when it is clear that Jake and Nicole are not going to speak. "I'm Sage."
"I know who you are," she replies simply. Her eyes stare straight at me, but I notice that they are so thickly webbed with cataracts that there is no way she could still have sight.
But then again, nothing about this woman exactly says "human." I have no idea what she's capable of.
Suddenly turning on her heel, she orders, "Follow me." After a pause, we do. What other options are there?
"Deirdre is still asleep. She is so young that the gas almost killed her," the woman explains, as dispassionately as if she is a schoolteacher rehashing the same material for the thousandth time.
I remember growing strangely sleepy in the spaceship for no apparent reason. Nicole fully grasps the situation a second before I do.
"You gassed us?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"So it would be easier to kidnap you."
"Have you ever heard of the term 'sugarcoating?'" I ask mildly.
"I have."
"Have you ever tried... using it?"
"I'm sure you must have many questions. I will answer them to the best of my abilities," the woman replies.
"Why are we here?" Jake demands as Nicole asks, "Where's Xavier?" and I ask, "Is your favorite color white, perchance?" Jake and Nicole both glare at me. The Voice is weakened, but finally, her sense of humor is gravitating more towards mine, and it's easier to just let her take the wheel - I've learned that much by now. Maybe that means I'm giving up once and for all, but I won't think about that right now.
"You are here for the Trials. Xavier is locked in his room. Yes, in fact, it is."
"What are the Trials?" Jake asks as Nicole asks, "Why is Xavier locked in his room?" and I ask, "Why white?" Again, I earn a glare from my companions, and Jake looks sorely tempted to drop me.
"The Trials are a group of tests we perform on Earthlings to learn more about your species - you will be told about them in detail presently. Xavier woke up far before the rest of you and attempted to kill me with his metal legs, which we were kind enough to replace for him. Stark white represents organization and detachment, the two qualities that are the most important to our species."
"Why us?" Jake asks as Nicole questions, "Where are you taking us?" and I ask, the Voice receding finally, "What exactly is your species?" I get a couple of surprised looks for asking such a normal question and fight the urge to scream with frustration - it will never not be annoying to have people acting like I'm a genius for simply being normal. It has always been the Voice, I want to yell at them. Sage is still here.
"We have never gotten the opportunity to study criminally insane human beings before and thought it would make for an interesting experiment - perhaps our most effective thus far. I am taking you to your debriefing room. Any questions about my race will be answered during said debriefing."
We all open our mouths to question her further, but just then, we arrive at the end of the hallway. The woman turns to us, curiosity on her face. "Why is Jake carrying Sage?"
"How did you know I was carrying her?" Jake asks, surprised. "You're blind, aren't you?"
"Not quite," the woman replies with a mysterious smile. "I could only hear two sets of footprints, one of which was large and heavy, the other of which was closer to me. I knew that the heavy footprints were yours and when she spoke, I discovered that Nicole was the one closer to me. Since you are exceptionally strong, Jake, I came to my conclusion."
"I can't walk on my own," I volunteer as the other two exchange shocked glances. "I was tied up in a straightjacket for three years. My legs and arms don't support any weight, including my own." Jake smiles slightly and I demand defensively, "What are you smiling at?"
"You go between irrelevant craziness and complete normality. I can't decide if you're half normal or extra crazy."
I hadn't looked at it like that before. Was I further condemning myself to apparent insane with these random bouts of self-control? Vivian had acted like it meant I had a hope at recovery, but then again, she was new.
"Oh! Um - where is Vivian? The woman who was with us on our spaceship?"
"Vivian is dead, along with the other crew members of the ship," the woman answers calmly. "There can be no witnesses." She smiles at us gently. The line seems ominously rehearsed, and I wonder how many people before us it has been said to.
With the Voice's weakening hold on my emotions - it still hasn't fully regained control, which I find odd - I can feel the dull thuds of shock, terror, and disbelief banging at the back of my brain, but up front, it's all rationalization.
"Why aren't we going into the room?" Nicole asks after another tense second of silence.
"We are waiting for Deirdre," the woman replies.
Sure enough, a second later, Deirdre comes hurtling around the corner, looking rather panicked. She freezes when she sees us, and then her face breaks into a wide smile. "Hey! There you guys are!"
"Hey, kid," I say in what I hope is a cool, mentor-like voice. I know I probably shouldn't be proud of the fact that a nine-year-old looks up to me because of my mass murdering, but the Voice isn't completely gone yet. It takes more than an interstellar kidnapping to shake her, apparently.
"Won't Xavier miss the debriefing?" Nicole asks as we enter the room behind the woman.
"No," our guide responds. "He's already here."
Sure enough, Xavier is awkwardly standing in the round, completely white and featureless orb of a room that we have entered. The space is a perfect sphere with only a small section of the floor that we can stand on. In essentiality, it has a huge volume but much of it is useless.
The woman exits the room as soon as we are all inside. Nicole attempts to activate the door, but it doesn't even budge. "How do you lock an automatic door?" I wonder idly. I know it's possible even on Earth, and I know that's exactly the Voice's sort of question, but the Voice still has a hold on my emotions, making everything that would otherwise bother me seem small and irrelevant.
Jake puts me down none too gently on the floor. I rub my battered knees and glare at him.
And with that, the Voice comes rushing back like a tidal wave. It has newfound strength somehow. Maybe it was just resting, gathering its strength. Whatever the situation was, it's back with a gusto. I begin belting out the alphabet at the top of my lungs.
As I sing against my will, I think to take my mind off of the situation. The Voice is seriously fluctuating. Ever since I boarded that spaceship, it hasn't been quite as strong. It's been, more often than not, willing to sit back and let me steer my brain. But sometimes it feels like it's struggling to take control and just plain failing. What's causing that? Am I getting stronger? Or is the Voice finally going away?
No. I'm not nearly that lucky. I doubt it was anything but the change in some aspect of its life that was usually constant -like atmospheric pressure or something.
Xavier eyes us, especially me. "Did she tell you about how I tried to kill her?" he asks us once my singing finally dies off. His question seems mostly directed at Nicole.
"Yeah," she replies. "Doesn't look like you did too much damage, though."
"She felt like steel."
"That would be a funny sight," I note, sniggering. "You, stumping around on the floor, waving your metal legs around while she just watches you with that creepy smile."
Deirdre breaks into hysterical laughter and even Jake lets a small smile slip across his lips before regaining his previous contemptuous composure. Only Nicole and Xavier are glowering at me. For the first time in years, people are laughing with me.
"Did you two know each other? Before, I mean," I question once Deirdre calms down. "You seem awfully chummy."
"He sold my stepdad drugs," Nicole replies shortly, clenching her jaw. Everyone falls into an awkward silence. I personally don't view that as being a real basis for friendship - who would want to be friends with a boy who sold their abusive stepdad drugs? - but before the Voice can protest this unsatisfactory answer, a door that wasn't visible prior opens and a man walks into the room. He looks exactly like the woman, the only differences being his more masculine facial structure and flattened chest.
"Welcome to initiation," he announces just as calmly as our previous guide, and I feel the Voice settle down as if preparing to watch its favorite movie.