Tesla Tower

One year. Of course, she could be more exact than that if she wanted to, but one year was a good enough of a time marker. It was how long she had been in this bubble. How did she know? At exactly three months, two days, seven hours, and three minutes into her life, one of the Outside People showed her a watch, and she seemed so enraptured with it, that the scientist left it there for proximately twenty-four hours before reclaiming it. It had taken a total of three hours to figure out what the device was for. After several wrong guesses, she finally came to the conclusion that it was meant to give measurement to the passing of time.

She probably would have figured it out more quickly had she known the concept of time before being introduced to the watch. The Outside People seemed to grow worried over the next few days, as Tesla spent them in contemplation of the new concepts of numbers, and time. She figured out that the smallest increment, seconds, took sixty to make a minute. Sixty minutes to make an hour. Twelve hours to a day, and twelve more to a night. Of course, the unfortunate side to that was that she thought the limit to numbers was sixty. Future learning would disprove that of course.

But why should it take days to contemplate time? In tandem with the calender, which she noticed they changed every time the number of boxes had passed in days, she calculated every moment of her life, down to the first second and up to the very second she lived, and labeled it. When she returned to animation, the relief on all of their faces was enough to make Tesla cry with guilt. She didn't mean to scare anyone after all.

But she was getting backtracked. This was now. One year into her birth. All of the Outside People had stopped coming to see her. She didn't now why. She wondered if she had hurt their feelings again. She had spent the last four months, fifteen days, and thirty minutes alone. No one to play with. The last one to visit her had looked somewhat strange the last time she had seen her. As if she were trying to hide her fear. She had reasoned out that the Outside People don't like to show negative emotions so that they don't worry their friends. She had also reasoned out that she was able to see right through them with no problem.

She wondered if something bad had happened to her friend. She realized that bad things happened sometimes. She didn't know what those bad things were, but she knew that they happened. With a small sigh she curled up into a ball in the center of her own sphere, where she floated around inexplicably. The bonds of gravity did not have any hold on her here. It was amazingly comfortable. No stress on any part of her body. But it was sad. She wanted to be able to play with the Outside People again, and if she were just on the outside she'd be able to find them, she knew.

As she thought, her eyes shot to the door as the familiar muted sound of it opening reached her ears. Her naked body shot across the globe to the edge, where she pressed her hands up against the glassy container. Her arms were slightly spread and her form lightly pressed against the glass. The Outside Person who came in was her favorite, the last one to visit her. She made a soft sound as the other completed their little 'hug', pressing her own hands up against the hands that she had laid across the container. It had become ritual when she was younger. She could feel the warmth soaking in the glass from the other's hands.

But she was worried. Shaking actually. That made Tesla frown. She stared at the other in concern, tilting her head to the side just slightly. Was she worried that Tesla didn't love her anymore? That was impossible. She loved the Outside Person more than anything. She spoke out in an echoing voice; "Tesla. . . Like. . . You." She didn't have the word for love, unfortunately. It still caught the scientist off guard, though, apparently, but it eventually brought a thin smile to her lips.

Just then though, the door opened again and more Outside People approached. They shoved Her Outside Person away rather roughly, causing her to smack into a wall. Tesla's eyes widened in terror. They had hurt someone! What terrible people! How could they even think about hurting someone. Tears ran from her eyes, though she did not realize her situation. At least, not until her globe began to open. She was drawn out by many grabbing hands, and gravity crashed down on her. She fell onto her face, and gasped for breath as the weight of her body crushed her.

The people around were unsympathetic. Or if they were, it was such a diminished emotion that they might as well have not cared at all. Those same hands grabbed at her again and lift her up in their arms, dragging her along with them. She realized immediately that she would never have survived on the outside world alone. She needed practice first. But she already came to the conclusion that she would probably never get the chance. She reasoned that a Bad Thing was about to happen to her.

In exactly five minutes after her removal from her globe, she was strapped to a very cold flat surface. Her body unable to move, she looked around, blinking her eyes widely at the Outside People around her. She wondered what they were doing, until she saw one of them lift an object. It was a very sharp object, she could tell. She reasoned that the ability to cut through things was second-to-none. She also reasoned that they were probably going to use it on her. She wondered how to stop them. "Please. . . Don't?" She asked, adding in please because Her Outside Person had told her that it was polite.

They hesitated. It seemed even they were not completely immune to manners. "She can talk? Doctor, I don't think we should do this. This is a person we're talking about." They considered Her a person? She was unable to help but smile. She was a person! She had always been worried about that. All the people she knew had been on the outside. But. . . She was on the outside now, too. Or rather, the inside, now.

The person that spoke in her defense was glared at for a moment. "We have to figure out what makes her different from the rest." "At the risk of losing something undeniably valuable? At the cost of killing a sentient minded creature? Think of what her mind could accomplish for us! I've spent a few weeks with her myself, and she picked up things so swiftly without even being taught. What could she be used for under mentoring?"

The doctor heeded nothing more, and reached down, pressing the tip of the blade just above her breasts and cutting downward. Tesla did not scream. She didn't know that she was able to scream. She only said in a high-pitched voice; "Pain! Pain! Hurt! Please. . No pain!" Her toes wiggled and her fingers clenched, but that was all she was able to do as the blade began to cut her open from chest to navel. "Doctor, please, she's in anguish. You could at least apply some anesthetics!"

"I'm not wasting my medicine on an inhuman thing." The doctor said as her flesh was slowly opened up. Her organs were all completely different from humans, most of them unrecognizable, except for the heart, which beat with surprising ferocity for someone as young as she was. A small smile touched the doctors lips as a hand descended into her body. Then Tesla did scream.

Eeri stared after for a few moments longer as the troupe of scientists, her peers, marched out with Tesla in hand. She could not believe this day had really come, that all of her friends who sided with her on Tesla's case were really gone and that the girl's life was now in danger of the people she had worked the past few years with. Nothing good would come from their actions, if they succeeded this day, and a great mind and a sweet little friend would be lost.

She could not stand for it, these tests her fellows wanted to do on the girl, their inhumanity towards her, how they overrode those that opted to keep the energy-producing girl alive and encourage her learning, how they got rid of everyone with a sense of morality in the place.. Even with the shadiest of methods.

She pushed away from the wall and followed after the group of scientists, straightening herself and pulling a straight face, to avoid looking suspicious, but she kept out of the way, out of sight of the humanoid she had taken a liking to. She ducked her head down and paused outside the operating room, composing herself and her thoughts. She was going to do this. She was going to save that girl, and get her out of here. Get her to some place better. She slipped her hands into her pockets and...

She jumped, hearing a scream from inside the room, and before she was ready, she shoved her way in, pulling out a device most similar to an old... what were those things again? Pistol. A gun. Right. But this was a prototype taser, one that, no matter where it was aimed at on the human body, sent its charge straight to the nervous system, putting the victim of such a weapon in not only a large amount of pain, but a state of paralysis. Recovery was not gaurunteed. Not that it mattered for people with their kind of pay in this futuristic world.

She fired the silent weapon several times before panic could set in that someone had burst in, armed and with intentions of using that taser. One by one, the group huddled about the operating table fell with muffled groans, attempts at shouts, until the only one standing was her. She slammed the door and locked it, and hurried over to the table, staring down at the girl with a look of horror.

How could they do this to her without even putting her under to begin with? How could they inflict pain on a living, and sentient, creature like this? She could not understand it. She had chosen this career to help people, and this most certainly was not helping anyone. She set the taser aside and grabbed at some anesthetics, enough to kill the pain, applying them to the girl with a needle while claiming, in a breathless voice, "Don't worry, Tesla... Don't worry.. Everything will be alright.. I'll get you out of here.." When the drug was administered, she reached up and pat the girl on her cheek gently, giving her the best smile she could at the moment.

"Let's get you put back together again.." She muttered, pulling on a pair of clean gloves and working, as quickly as she could, and precisely, with what she had to bring the girl's flesh, after a check to make sure everything inside her was inplace and unharmed, back together. With use of a laser and a fine piece of mending tech, as stitches and staples were no longer used for large wounds, she closed the gaping line and cauterized the bleeding.

She grabbed at the bindings after looking over her work quickly, making sure she had done a good job despite her hurry. She would hate it, just hate it if she failed to ease the girl's pain and put her life in danger herself. She lifted the girl gently into a careful hug, muttering, "There... Much better now... Now we're going to get you out of here.." She knew the girl did not understand much, but she still felt the need to speak and comfort her. She pulled away for only a moment, working a coat off of one of the downed doctors, who gave an angry grunt on the floor, and slipped it on around Tesla. Now to get her out of this compound.. But she would do it. She had to, for Tesla's sake.

She noticed the people beginning to drop around her, but she continued screaming, her eyes becoming bloodshot as she strained against her bonds. Finally, the doctor hurting her dropped, and suddenly her friend was looking over her. She did not immediately trust her. After all, her friends had recently begun cutting her open and trying to tear things out of her insides. But then the woman started helping her, and she began to weep with relief. It was an emotion so painful that she almost could not bear it. She felt the pain numbing after the needle had been injected, and lay there silently, shivering and shuddering as the woman began stitching up her wounds.

Why had things gone like this? She had always been nice to everyone. She realized that people could be mean, but she wasn't a mean person. So why would they want to hurt her? And why would they cut inside of her. She concluded that they must have wanted something inside of her. She wished they would have just asked her. It probably would have been a lot less painful and she would have happily given them anything they wanted. She reasoned out that it must have been because it was something she needed and thus they did not think she would give it up freely.

All the while, the woman was operating on her, but the anesthetics had her half-a-world away. She was combing her own mind, trying to find out why she had to go through so much pain. Her eyes wandered around frantically when the other vanished, only to return later with one of the Outside People's coats. She blinked momentarily and very tentatively reached up, out to the woman. Her arm was still weak, she reached out to touch her, only to be drawn into a hug. She was touching her. Finally. A real hug.

Tesla lightly let her arms wrap back around the scientist, still panting just slightly from the pain of her ordeal. She shifted just slightly and glanced towards her friend, making the connections and stating; "Tesla leave? Will friend come. . ?" She asked quietly, shivering for just a moment at the cold. Her dome was always warm, but the air conditioned lab was definitely not. She was weeping silently, over many things. Over her first real hug, over her pain, over the fact that her friends were no longer friends. She slowly moved her hands away from her, and let them drop to her sides.

She realized that if they were going to escape, then they had to move swiftly. People would be coming to check on the experiment, and when they did, they would be in trouble. Though she never had a single thought about escaping anything before, she was already making detailed plans, though she had no idea how she would execute them with no way to tell her friend. She would just have to let the doctor lead. Following because she couldn't talk. Following because she was hurt. Following because she also realized that she had spent a year of life inside of a glass dome, and her friend had spent much longer on the outside. She knew it infinitely better than Tesla.

But she did know one thing, they had to go. "Hug. . . later. . . Go, now. . ."

Eeri was relieved greatly when it appeared Tesla still trusted her. The feeling was almost enough to force her to shut down for a while and weep, as Tesla was now, only with tears of gratefullness, rather than loss and pain. She had always felt a need to take the girl under her wing like a mother, and would have died a bit inside if the girl turned from her because of what other's did to her. But she didn't think any of this, simply felt it and knew it to be true.

She offered a weak little smile and a nod, patting the girl on the head a time or two. "Yes, I'm coming with you. I'm here for you, Tesla." She slowly, and carefully, guided the girl off the operating table to stand, keeping an arm around her to keep her steady if she needed it. If need be, she would even pick the girl up and run with her, even if it drained her of everything she had.

She gave little pause when the girl said 'Hug later, go now', nodding again. She knew the girl was amazingly brilliant; she had watched her grow up after all. She snatched up her taser, slipping it into her pocket after a quick inventory check. She had come prepared with some of the prototype grenades, too. Not that they exploded or anything. No need for explosions, not anymore. They imitided certain gases, though, or liquids onto the floor, or flash froze everything within a room, or- the list goes on and on, with only a few things being fatal.

She glanced back at the girl again, making sure the coat was on securely, hoping that it was warming her at least a little. She looped an arm around her waist and guided her over to the door, after grabbing a few last things. Pain medications, in case the girl would need more later. Not that she didn't have a huge stock of it to begin with, but still.

She unlocked the door and opened it, peeking out before bringing herself and Tesla into the hallway, having made sure that the coast was clear. She kept a hand over the taser in her pocket, letting her hand only leave it to open and close the door, the light above it continuing to flash that the room was busy. She began to move at almost a power-walk pace, but she kept an eye on Tesla, making sure she was able to keep up. She doubted the girl was very strong after spending her life in a no-gravity glass dome, or after her experience under the knife, but hoped she'd have it in her to even run with her outside. She guided her down another hall, and then another, leading her as best as she could around the more populated areas of the building, praying that they did not run into anyone else.

One thing was certain. Tesla was her top priority, over anything and everything else, and she'd protect the girl with her life.

She was more than happy to know that her friend was coming with her. She would never make it out of here alone, she reasoned. It was not an easy reasoning for some reason. But good in it's own right, because it meant her friend would be with her. She watched her collect things that she tried to guess the purpose of, and would probably continue guessing the purpose of until she had found out. She pushed it to the back of her mind for now though, and began to grab the hems of the labcoat, pulling it over her form. It was much warmer than the chilly air outside. She idly wondered if her friend had hurt them to stop them from hurting her.

She was appalled by the thought, but she was also happy that her friend would do so much. She stuffed a few random things in her pockets, things that looked useful, before turning to find the woman already leaving the room. She squeaked and shot out after her. She immediately began to pant for breath and lag behind, her fingers gripping at her chest as if her heart were struggling. She was going to cause the death of both herself and her friend if she did not pick up her pace somehow.

She reasoned that she was an energy producer, a plant for lack of better terms. Animals consumed energy, plants created it. The people used her energy to make lights work and other stuff, but she did not have to use it for them, she reasoned. She could use it for herself too. Immediately her legs began to work faster, and her fatigue washed away. She ran swiftly and caught up with her friend, matching pace with her and offering her a radiant smile. Radiant because she was glowing with the abundance of energy she was generating. A heat emitted from her form, enough that her friend likely could feel it herself.

"Tesla. . . faster." She said quietly, indicating her change in momentum. She was eager to escape the place. She had already realized that she had left her glass dome into a much bigger one made of another material. She would have to escape this one too, if she were to be free. "Where?" She asked, hoping she would not have to clarify on what 'where' was. She could not help, though, but wonder. Would she just be escaping from one prison to another? For now though, she had to keep running.

Eeri was quite startled when the girl burst up to her side, blinking several times at the glowing girl. It was shocking to see, and brilliant, too. And it was obviously aiding the girl in keeping up. Tesla was simply amazing, to be able to put her body at work for herself like she was, doing things that others of her kind could not, or did not know how to do. She gave voice to her amazement with a soft smile, saying simply, "Tesla is amazing." If she did not already know the word, she ought to know by Eeri's smile that amazing was a good thing. "Where? To freedom."

She picked up her pace to a run, after making sure the girl was able to keep up, but she got ready, bracing herself and winding up for running into somebody. Anybody. She ran with a hand in the pocket of her white coat, always with her and on the taser and a pinky and ring finger grasping two golf-ball sized grenades. They were about to cut through one of the opening halls that lead out to the parking lot, which strangely enough, wasn't all that modern. It was a mix, with new vehicals and even a few landing pads, but other than that, it was like something from the old times.

She looked around when they burst into the hall, neverminding the people that turned and stared as she guided the girl to the wide, glass doors that lead out into the sunlight. She eyed a certain group of people, tightening her grasp of the things within her pocket, while her other hand reached out and rested against Tesla's back, guiding her along with her. This woud be the first time the girl ever left the facility... Too bad the conditions were so horrible. She rushed her out the door into the warmth of a spring day, her eyes squinting through the sunlight, flickering back over her shoulder at the large building. So far, it seemed that the security hadn't been called in.. But she wasn't to her car, so she could not yet relax.

Tesla smiled back, widely, and held onto her Friend's hand. She knew danger was coming through, because of her friend's tenseness. Danger frightened her, but she couldn't let that interfere. Freedom awaited her, whatever Freedom was. She kept herself in check, knowing that her Friend would not let her down. As they were running into the main room, she looked around at all the Outside People. She stumbled for a second. Wow! There were so many of them! She didn't know that there were this many People. How many more would there be? Things were starting to look more grim for her. What if she couldn't escape. She couldn't hide from hundreds of people, could she?

What if there were... more than hundreds of people? What if there were thousands? Millions? She could barely comprehend that. Well, she comprehended it easily enough, but the effect of it stunned her. If there were that many people, any one of them could stumble across her at any time, and then her escape would be over. Her hand gripped more tightly at her Friend's, scared. Her figure began to glow more brightly, as the production of energy within her increased. She wasted no time looking back to explore the surroundings, but the Sun touching her skin was like a burst of pleasure that caused her to let go of her friend's hand and stumble to her knees.

It was shocking. Her glow vanished and she stared upwards to the Sun. It did not hurt her eyes. In fact, it seemed to strengthen them--after all, flowers spend their entire lives looking at the Sun, and only grow for it. The Sun. She had heard about it, but never imagined it to be so beautiful. So wonderful. She reached up towards it, trying to grab it, and made a surprised noise when her hand only closed over empty air. Immediately her brain began to process it. It is obviously farther away than it looks. But it looks so close. So bright. So warm. I can feel it's warmth.

Why is it so hot? Why is it so unreachable? Standing up, Tesla quietly began to walk, in the direction of the car they were aiming for, watching the Sun. She was going to use triangulation--a concept she did not even have a name for--to figure it out. When the Sun did not move as she was walking, she gasped. The enormity of the situation smacked her like a brick. It was REALLY far away. But, if it was so far away, how could she see it? It must be huge. Way huge. Bigger than anything she could imagine. The precise calculations would take her a few days, she predicted, and stored it in the back of her head. She had to escape. Now was not the time to gaze upon wonder.

She rushed over to the car, hoping that she did not worry her Friend. She reached for the door, and opened it, seeming to guess it's purpose as soon as she saw it. She glanced at the seat, blinking once, before sliding in and sitting down in it. She pulled the door shut, because she assumed that was it's natural position. She looked around the car, taking everything in. A wheel shaped device, that when she touched it, caused the frontal wheels to turn. A steering device. That meant it was a transportation device. She looked around and noticed the seat belt.

She pulled at it, and saw that it had a receptacle near her waist. She slid it in. It felt uncomfortable against her bare skin, but she immediately assumed it was a safety concern to have it buckled. She reasoned that if the car was suddenly stopped because of an interference of momentum, the effects could permanently damage her, or perhaps even cause her death. Death was a very scary concept, and she brushed by it quickly. She tightened the belt a little bit, and looked towards her Friend. "Tesla ready . . ?"

Eeri shot of a daring look at the people they passed, challenging them to stop her and her companion as they bursted though the room. She heard their gasps, and some of them even leapt back, seeing that she guided a glowing girl. It ruffled more than a few feathers, and someone called for security, off somewhere. It didn't matter, soon, though. Soon, they'd be out there, in her car. Soon, they'd be heading down the road, and soon, they'd be taking that secret path she had researched for when this day was to come. No one would take Tesla back to that room to be a test subject again!

Outside, she felt Tesla's hand pull free of her own, and she stumbled around, watching the girl stare up at the sun. Oh, she hadn't even thought of how the outside world might effect her! Or she had, but she had not planned for it in the great escape. She stood over the girl, guarding her, staring down the people in the building. She could not show herself as armed and dangerous yet. If she did... They wouldn't hesitate in using lethal force. So she kept her hand jammed into her pocket all the while as she, and Tesla, made their way towards her car, after Tesla's shock at the sun.

She pulled out the device in her pocket when they reached the vehical, but only to put hesitation into any pursuers before she yanked the door open and climbed in. After, of course, watching the girl start to get in. Her intelligence, her ability to figure out things so quickly... It was shocking, unbelievable. And her so-called comrades wanted to sacrifice her to look at her organs? Idiots. She had worked with a jumble of idiots. She strapped herself in and pulled her door shut and offered a grin to Tesla as she started the car up at the push of a button. "Tesla is good. Very good, and ready."

She glanced over her shoulder in the back seat, and further, through the back window at the Complex for a second or two before hitting, simply, the gas, turning the wheel and spinning right out of the parking lot onto the road. There was a pile of things in the back seat, if one noticed. She had gathered things she thought might be useful, like a few good books and beginners books, hoping that if she got Tesla away safely, she could teach the girl to read, among other things. There was also a lump of electrical gear with cut wires and a microchip amongst it all. It was the original chip to the car, that authorities could use to shut it down, but she had yanked and replaced it with something... better. She had also yanked the GPS and gone with something almost archaic, which was simply a piece of paper with a map on it. She felt ancient just holding it.

"Won't be long until we're completely free... And then we can start new lives. Now you can have a life, Tesla." She seemed so happy saying it, whether Tesla understood her or not, and certainly felt it. All of the girl's life, she had lived under the inspecting eye of scientists wanting to study her, and she had been denied so many, many things.

Prototype 00, Or ZZ as her Creator liked to call her, was staring from the top of a tower within the complex. She had been called upon as soon as the disturbance had been reported, and she had made her way up to the top. Her eyes stared down piercingly upon the people below, watching as they ran for their car. Her hands took a gun into them, and she aimed it. She took wind condition, weather, altitude, and the speed of the target into check, as she twisted the barrel down, and pulled the trigger. The bullet fired from the gun and sped through the metal of the car. It made a noise that she could even hear from here, but she managed to pin the bullet into the ribcage of the woman.

The bullet held a tracking device, just in case she managed to live. Her job done, she sat down quietly and waited for the next orders to be given to her. Likely she would have to chase down the plant that had managed to earn her freedom. She was a lucky girl. If she managed to avoid ZZ, that was. ZZ imagined that she should have felt terrible for doing what she was doing, and she hoped that the people driving away in the car would forgive her. She would tell Tesla that she was sorry when she went to kill her too. She had no choice. It was against her will. She dearly wished her Creator would free her from her chains.

Tesla felt the gunshot coming in, though she could not hear or see it. When it struck her in the abdomen, she released a small squeak. Only a small squeak. This was nothing compared to being vivisected. Certainly unpleasant, but not something she could not handle. She began to breath quite a bit more heavily though, as she did not have a large hole in her back. Though her Friend probably already knew it by now, she looked towards her and said; "Pain. . ." Her eyes drift shut then, and she leaned up against the door of the car, which she found reduced the stress on the injured side of the back.

It was not serious. She would live through it. She could probably even grow it back after a time. But for now she had to rest with the pain. She would need the Sun to fix this, she reasoned. Only a being so powerful and mighty as that would be able to give her the energy she needed to fix the problem. Something had happened back when she first took a step outside, and she realized that the Sun was going to be the source of a lot of her energy, though any light at all would be able to give her some. "Tesla okay. . ." She said, just so that Friend would not worry.

"Tesla wants life. . ." She said, despite the fact that she was wounded. She seemed perfectly prepared to hold a conversation. She reached out for her Friend, quietly touching her with the tips of her fingers. "Friend will show Tesla how. . . Right?" She asked tentatively, hoping she was not mistaken. She did not remove her hand from the other woman's form, seeming to enjoy the contact after so long of only herself. She took in a soft breath, before sighing it out, smiling with content. One would have never guessed she had a bullet in her back.