A Deal With God

Chapter 1: The Appearance of Five

November 5th, 1983

White walls. White ceiling. White lights. White lab coats. White uniforms. White hospital gowns. White slippers. White bedding. Five was used to being surrounded by white.

She was surprised therefore when two orderlies came to retrieve her from her cell, holding a gray sweat suit and gray shoes for her to change into. She complied wordlessly. They escorted her down the hall, not to the usual training room, but towards the elevator, going down. They hadn't given her the shot today with breakfast, so the daze she was so used to being under had less of an edge. She still felt like her mind was a distant thing outside her body, but less so than usual.

When the elevator doors opened, the orderlies led her down a hall she didn't recall. They entered a lab space, where scientists went back and forth between monitors. Papa stood in the middle of the room, observing their work. He turned when he heard the doors slide open to see the teenaged girl flanked by two orderlies. Number Five was the only other child that had survived the massacre almost two years ago. She had a very pretty face, but what made her especially captivating were her eyes. On her paperwork, they weren't sure what to write down under eye colour. It was a shade of brown so light, her eyes looked like gold. Irises bordered by dark rings, it made for a rather piercing gaze.

Dr. Brenner lamented how her talents were more of a physical nature. While formidable, his work revolved around psychokinetic abilities. Of all the children, she had the most difficulty with the exercices of the mind. Training sessions with her mostly resulted in fried machinery and power outages. It was more hassle than he could justify. He had her chipped like he had done to One, he kept her sedated to slow her down, but he'd kept her at the facility as a precaution. He had orderlies take her to the gym and tutor her in benign subjects in the event that he might ever have a need for her.

"Hello Five, I have a very special task for you," Papa said as the orderlies led the teenaged girl to the middle of the room. She nodded silently, her eyes downcast, as her fingers tugged on the end of the sweatshirt she'd been provided. She wore the matching sweatpants and had plain slip-on shoes on her feet. She knew this wasn't a usual exercise. It had been quite a while since she'd been brought out for one of those, after all.

"Today, I'd like you to go through a door, go as far as you can reach, and tell us what you see on the radio, okay? Do you think you can do that?" Papa asked, his hands behind his back. She nodded slowly, and he silently motioned for the orderlies to get to work strapping her into a harness. They had her put on a backpack and attached a walkie-talkie around to her front. They led her through to another room, an observatory deck, overlooking a strange opening in the wall. She was handed over to a man in a bio-hazard suit to go the rest of the way, down the stairs and onto the platform below. She quietly noted the fact that they were not providing her with a bio-hazard suit of her own.

On the platform in front of the strange opening in the wall, she felt someone attach a rope to the back of her harness and handed her a helmet. At least her face would be covered then. Someone else came to check that her radio was properly dialled in and explained how to use it to communicate with them. She nodded. She turned back to look up to Papa standing safely behind the windows of the observation deck. He grabbed the intercom and began to speak.

"Five, once you have stepped through the door here, I would like you to describe what you see. What the surroundings are like. What the climate is. If you see any people there," Papa explained.

"Am I looking for someone in particular?" Five asked, speaking for the first time since being retrieved from her cell. Dr. Brenner had to pause for a moment. For just a second, the hazy film over her eyes from the sedative seemed to dissipate completely, but when he blinked it was back like it had been for the better part of the past year. He decided not to dwell on it.