The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

  * * *

  With the end of Vala's classes nearing their conclusion for the week and with nothing else on her schedule Shiva settled in the swaying branches of a nearby tree to wait out the last little bit of the official day and anticipating the hours and days of the weekend that would follow. The idea that they would have two days almost completely alone without many concerns besides their sudden move and whatever homework Vala might need to complete was a heady exciting feeling. Though she tried hard to not let the event of the early hours of that morning drift up to the surface it seemed almost an impossible task to not let that happen. Her wandering thoughts were interrupted by the sudden subtle appearance of Devin as he wandered in from behind her and moved to sit calmly on the bench below her.

  "Hey there." He murmured softly seeming to be completely at ease as he leaned back against the bench.

  "Hey." Shiva called back finding it hard now not to smile. "Still having me tracked?"

  "Of course, but this far away from a military server I had to negotiate a private deal with the local services. The good news is, I will be the only one to see those reports now." He told her in return, chuckling over whatever might follow. "Of course, Seila can not authorize you to leave school grounds since she needs signed parental permission, nor can I authorize you to leave the immediate area, but.. one supposes that if you did happen to get out to the nearest town three miles south-southwest of here that security here could hardly keep you from returning through the front gate since they wouldn't want you setting off false intruder alarms." Shiva quickly decided that he was being far too sweet for his own good she rolled off the branch landed on the bench below before moving to curl up against his side. Chuckling he settled his arm around her and hugged her close, no longer trying to hide his growing affection for her. "I am glad that you are calmer today."

  "I.. got defensive about Vala.." Shiva admitted reluctantly.

  "Oh that was all too clear last night young lady, but that's okay.. it was.. illuminating." He gave here a real honest smile when his choice in words made her giggle back to him. "But just so you know, I will be keeping that bit of information out of any reports I might make now or in the near future. Judging by the way you have reacted to her is a pretty clear sign that this is something out of the ordinary." He murmured back to her gently.

  "I think so too, and.. thank you." Shiva whispered back to him feeling a huge surge of gratitude for his quiet support.

  "You're welcome, I really only stopped by to say farewell for a little while. Gregor and I are all done here and feel that situation is well in hand for the foreseeable future so we are heading back to base to make all the paperwork look nice and tidy." Shiva was very much surprised to find a bit of disappointed by this bit of news.

  "I.. think I will miss you this time.." His honest surprise was no less than hers and was only multiplied when Shiva moved to kiss his cheek. "Have a good trip.. and I promise to stay out of trouble.. for Vala's sake.." He chuckled down at her as the bells rang, seeming all too relaxed now. He hugged her close just once more and kissed the top of her head before sliding to his feet just ahead of first girls to reach the outside. Most of them still had one more class to attend, but Vala had a free-study period next so when she spotted him the two of them stopped nearby to have a brief quiet conversation before Vala hugged him and he wandered off with a backwards smile for both of them. When Vala reached Shiva's side the two of them moved off in the general direction of their dorm without much hesitation, setting a pace that would just a little more brisk than their usual stroll.

  "Devin mentioned that you could.. 'technically'.. accompany me out to the town." Vala commented to her.

  "I have to sneak out, but not back in." Shiva agreed.

  "You could do that?" Vala asked with surprise.

  "Why do you want to go?" Vala nodded eagerly.

  "Yeah.. I mean.. on Fridays and on the weekends there is something of an invasion from both schools as just about everyone tries to get away from these walls for at least a while.. if we don't hurry we would never get a cart to make the trip.." Vala added with a touch of uncertainty and reluctance.

  "Then let's go." Together they raced back to the still empty dorm and rushed inside changing out of their uniforms to race back downstairs at a reckless pace. There was only two unclaimed carts out of the many that were meant to be slotted there, but they managed to capture one before those few disappeared and were soon rolling around the perimeter of the school. Shiva's trained eye could pick out some of the security measures that lined the walls glimpsed through the trees, and just as Devin had implied nearly all of it was designed to keep people out rather than other way around.

  "Here's good." Shiva murmured bringing Vala to a halt, the front gate was just around the turn in the road and the wall was out past a few more trees and an open grassy field extending out from the base of the wall.

  "You're sure.. I mean.."

  "Trust me." Shiva assured her confidentially. "Once you are out of sight from the gate slow down a bit, if you hear any alarms just keep going, I'll be able to catch up somewhere down the road if I don't get caught." Vala gave her a doubtful look, to which Shiva gave her a happy smile a playful kiss before slipping out into the open and disappearing down the forested slope leading down to the outer wall. Fairly certain that there would be no one in the area to see her, except perhaps for a security patrol that she just planned on ignoring anyway, Shiva was able to call up her full speed as she raced through the trees and out across the grass. Forty feet high and formed of reinforced concrete, Shiva could just as easily punched a hole straight through as ascend that sheer mass. As she reached the last half dozen meters, she shoved away with her full strength, leaping 20 feet in a fast moving arc that sent her on a collision course with the sheer face of the wall.

  Catching herself with hands and feet like a spider clinging to the face of it she was launched straight upward in the next second to ascend up to the peak of the wall to land with a security camera poking up between her legs as it slowly swept across the open ground and forest out beyond the wall. Without delay she was launching herself out over that middle distance to catch herself in the first distant branches of the nearest trees to start a high speed retreat across the canopy of the treetops. Propelled by telekinesis and with her weight widely dispersed over the large area of tiny branches there was just a few crackling twigs as she lunged across the distance towards the curving road in the distance. She was settled in the branches overhanging the road long before the whine of the engine whispered through the quiet surroundings. Giggling a little at the hard to contain mischief of her escape, Shiva watched as Vala appeared around the curve of the road almost barely moving along. Waiting until she was distracted by her scanning search of the forests to either side of the road, Shiva dropped down into the middle of the road just ahead of the slow moving vehicle. Vala slammed onto the brakes as if she had been traveling a three times her actual speed and halting a dozen feet away from where Shiva was standing.

  "That wasn't funny!" Vala accused as Shiva climbed in beside her and moved to curl up against her side.

  "It was for me." Shiva murmured back to her unrepentant even as Vala seemingly forgave her and hugged her close to her side. "Anyways.. I wouldn't have any trouble stopping this cart if you hadn't noticed me in time, much less launching it all the way back to the school, though.. it might not survive the trip." Vala growled at her playfully as she eased back into motion and took it up to the slow speed limit of the curving two lane road.

  "I don't suppose you could possible explain that to me.. I mean I can guess that is one of those things you might not want to talk about, but.." Vala murmured over to her uncomfortably as they cruised along towards the large town glimpsed in the distance as the hill sides dropped away to reveal the forested valley outside the school. ".. I know you are under a lot of restrictions.. and.." She shook her head and then ga
ve a frustrated sigh. "It's just that aren't any really strong telekinetics that anyone knows about besides in the military."

  "The truth?" Shiva asked her as Vala hugged her close and steered with one hand. "I honestly don't want to ever have to lie to you.. but this is a lot of top secret stuff."

  "Just between you and me then." Vala swore vehemently.

  "I'm under a lot of restrictions because of what I am.." Shiva murmured back to her feeling no real need to hurry the words that would follow just as Vala wasn't exactly racing down the slope towards the town awaiting them.

  "And what is that?" Vala asked sounding playful and just a little as if she didn't believe the comments about it being top secret.

  "Series 6, model number Xnv004-Rt421-Xx-4561-W." Shiva murmured back to her, recalling the number like it was burned into her brain rather than just etched permanently into her skin. Vala's arm tensed around her as her mind tried hard to comprehend the implications of that simple statement.

  "Series..? Six?" Vala asked at a total loss for words. Of course Vala would have known at least just a little about the 'Lilith' projects brought about by the military, they had after all been headline news all throughout the past decades.

  "Planetary security act F1412-1312 dated 2057 funded an unlisted, black list project whose goals were to create the next generation of soldiers in the event that the previous Series were compromised and there was a second war. Called Series 6, it was launched with specific aim of recreating human DNA from the basic level all the way up, maximizing the destructive potential for each experimental model. By expanding human evolution past its' current state using the work and research done on the proceeding 5 series of altered humans created during the war. The potential for this project was recognized beginning with Series 2, and whose value grew with each of the following projects as the potential towards these 'desirable' qualities showed marked improvement. So it was that this last and greatest series was funded in secret and under the highest levels of security to create me and those like me." Shiva murmured back to her sounding as if she were merely reciting something she had read rather than offering up anything like her own personal history. "In 2072, the Cold war officially ended with the fall of seperatist economy, and in the years that followed judiciary investigations into the governments military expenditures during and after the war began to uncover the evidence of monies used to fund the Series projects through the Veterans' programs. These eventually lead to the information of what publicly became known as 'Lilith experiments', as they were called later when the public and private scandals followed. In 2074, when the truth about human experimentation became all but common knowledge, and under huge pressure from falling public opinion the first reclamation projects were began to reintegrate the altered humans of Series 1 through Series 3 back into main stream society. By the time Series 3 personnel began to emerge in 2078, Series 6 had became a liability the senate could no longer afford." Vala nodded having probably already know all of this since it was now part of historical records. "We were told that we were going to be transported to a new more security facility out on one of the colonies.. but it was a lie. On January 1st 2079, we were escorted to the cryogenics facility and put into stasis.. the facility was shut down, and then locked around us.."

  "It's 2142.." Vala whispered to her.

  "June 2080, 104 members of Series 4 were released into the public.. by August 2082 there were 402 dead civilians from 224 separate incidents. It was discovered that physiological conditioning had created a psychosis in all members of that series making the uncontrollable and prone to violence. All 206 remaining members of that series were humanely executed under supreme court ruling MT2032-a78, and their remains were released to any surviving descendants. Twenty-two incidents involving 34 civilian casualties ended the reclamation efforts for Series 5, and they were restricted under Sol Alliance Titan act of 2084. Series 5 would remain in military service from that year forward, after an investigation revealed that their psychological conditioning would never make it possible for them to be returned to society. Pressure from the media implied that with each successive series the aptitudes and inclinations towards violence were exponentially increased with each Series. However the nature of creation taken for Series 6, made it far too risky for the full psychological programming designed for Series 5 to be used on us. In 2122 as far as I know, the first black line-items and back room deals related to Series 6 were passed quietly through the Senate in an effort to determine the truth of that false belief. As far as I know 21 people from Series 6 have been released since then, almost all of them to the colonies, but that funding disappeared almost completely after three incidents involving people brought to Earth. All of them were right about the time I was released in late November of 2139.." Shiva finished just about the time they reached the top of a low hill and the edges of the town appeared in the nearby distance.

  "Maybe I shouldn't have asked after all." Vala murmured darkly, deeply confused by everything she had been told.

  "I haven't exactly been a good girl since I got out.." Shiva admitted to her. "But.. I thought you should hear all of that from me.. I wouldn't.. have felt right if you didn't know what you are up against." Vala turned her eyes away from the road long enough to look deep into her eyes and then smiled.

  "I'm not worried." She murmured before curling up against her just a little more. "But I have the distinct feeling that there was another reason you told me that." She added with a chuckle.

  "Before I released out into the public, I dug through a lot of old restricted documents at the military base where they woke me up. As it turns out that in addition to providing the early stages of research into increasing human life spans, the Lilith experiments has also brought about other changes to society. There was a good bit of research into the emergence of gifts, like empathy, into the general public. While telekinetics and other more dangerous abilities haven't appeared, some analysts speculated that intermingling of the altered DNA from those who participated in the Lilith projects is directly responsible for the progression of human evolution noticed in recent years." Shiva told her softly.

  "So we are the next step?" Vala asked sounding as if a bit of playfulness was returning to her thoughts.

  "You certainly are.." Shiva whispered back to her with a sigh. "I might be.." Vala smiled down at her before sneaking a kiss. As they passed by a convenience store at the edge of town they were noticed by Gregor who gave them a bright smile as he waved a hand at them holding up the overloaded bag of road snacks overhead as they passed by. Hoping Devin would find amusement in the report that would soon follow, Shiva waved back.

  "Well, I am certainly going to keep you in line, that way I get to keep you." Vala told her with a giggle and after a few minutes of silence. After that it was easy to forget everything else and immerse themselves in their own little private world where no else really impinged on the sheer joy of being two teenage girls who were madly in love with each other. They toured the entire town, visited many of the stores, playfully shopping for clothes, playing games at a local hang-out, looking at all the gadgets that were popular at that time, and eating a romantic dinner at an out of the way restaurant. Many hours later and long after sunset a slow steady rain began to fall as they drove slowly away from the chaotic town filled to overflowing by the boys and girls from the nearby academies and wandered back towards the distance school at a pace that had other returning vehicles passing them as the limped along. The quiet conversation grew a touch more meaningful as there seemed to be no need for any more secrets between them. As promised the guards at the front gate didn't even really hold them up any longer than it was necessary to confirm they were both students. Even though it was technically the weekend there was still a curfew for those who didn't have written permission slips to stay away longer, and they arrived just a few minutes short of that deadline.

  "Oh damn.. I forgot to get something to drink!" Vala m
uttered angrily peering into the small and empty refrigerator as they settled down in their soon to be changed dorm room.

  "I'll get it." Shiva murmured, hoping up to the nearby window.

  "You're serious.." Vala commented crossing half the room almost intent on stopping Shiva as she climbed up on the window sill, Shiva gave her a bright playful smile in return.

  "Trust me.." She fell backward and into the sheer drop to the roof of the lower floors, catching herself on a telekinetic cushion and capturing the momentum of the fall before using it to launch back out into the open air and towards the front of the building. She landed with ease just out of sight of the front doors and strolled into the lobby and towards the large variety of vending machines waiting there. She seemed ignorant of the large group of older girls that had gathered there as coins and bills were passed into the receptacles and she gathered her supplies. By the time she was done and turning back towards the front doors a large group of angry RA's were gathered around her.

  "What are you doing out of your room, it's after curfew?!" Sophia demanded of her in a shrill piercing voice that had the girls around her glaring at her back with barely controlled dislike.

  "I'm not out of my room." Shiva murmured back to her calmly as she moved to walk past them, by that point enough people had heard not to touch her that none of them were willing to physically try to stop her. "After all it's past curfew and I am a good little girl. You really should learn to relax a little, all that self imposed stress is driving you right over the edge and making you see things. Yup, you've almost cracked now and are having hallucinations.. poor thing.." Shiva added wickedly as she reached the doors. Once out of sight she wasted no time to get back up to the lower roof and and ascended back to the open window by means of some conveniently placed drain pipe. By the time someone came throwing open the unlocked door Shiva was inside the room and well prepared for the invasion that followed.

  "Ever heard of knocking?!!" Shiva demanded angrily spinning around from where she was sitting in front of Vala's vanity. Dressed only in her underwear and combing out her hair there was no 'logical' way she could have beaten any of them back to that room. Sophia stared at her stunned while another RA looked on with deep surprise and the Professor looked pissed as she peered inside still wrapped in towels and a robe still dripping from her interrupted bath. "Dammit can you get any more rude?"

  "I.. how.." Sophia stammered incredulously.

  "Vala have you two been here all night?" The older woman asked sharply.

  "Since before curfew." Vala told her with a straight face and a voice that trembled just a little with her barely contained amusement.

  "But I saw Shiva downstairs in the lobby!!" Sophia accused in shrill pitch and with nearly enough volume to shatter glass.

  "How dare you make such a vile, untruthful accusation!!" Shiva demanded back, more than ready to play the innocent victim to the dictatorial villain.

  "Gina is this the girl Sophia said that all of you saw?" The Professor asked next.

  "No.." The other girl murmured. ".. to be honest we were all busy discussing this weekends events, I just took Sophia's word for it.."

  "That's a lie!! Their both lying!!" Sophia yelled loud enough that they could all hear doors opening up and down the hall.

  "My Office Sophia, Right NOW!!" The professor ordered with barely controlled rage. The door was swung shut against the continued screamed recriminations and almost not quick enough as Vala could no longer contain her outraged giggles. Shiva smiled breathed a sigh of relief and calmly went about combing out her hair.

  "That ought to teach that bitch to mess with us again." She added in a low spiteful tone as the screams outside finally went silent.

  "Oh my GOD!!" Vala squealed as she moved to settle behind her slipping her legs in around Shiva's and taking the comb out of her fingers. "How did you get away with that?"

  "What's more believable, that a girl like me came in from the outside to buy snacks and drinks from the lobby and left the same way, or that we came in, I slipped back outside unseen, bought snacks and drinks, went back outside and still managed to get back in here from the outside without being seen faster than any of them could reach this room? Anyways, someone like Sophia has no real friends, just people who barely tolerate her, so I planted the idea that she was just crazy and that other RA saw her chance to reek a little revenge on someone she secretly hates." Shiva told her with a pleased sound.

  "Back up just a little.." Vala whispered in a playfully serious voice. ".. you brought snacks too?" Shiva giggled back to her and gave her a very sober nod. "You are the best girlfriend ever!" She squealed playfully and gave Shiva a passionate kiss eliminated the need for any more words for at least a few hours more.