"No human can understand powerlessness.
"To be powerless is to be inhuman.
"Some humans believe they are powerless.
"They can't judge their own strength. That's a human quality.
"It's not their fault for being human.
"Nobody can decide something like that…
"To fill gaps in perceived control, they look to miracles.
"The cruelty of a miracle is that it's an interpretation.
"It's a label to put on beneficial things you don't understand.
"Even more importantly, it's a seal.
"Understanding is powerlessness.
"Knowledge is a pain beyond compare.
"Remembering is everyone's worst nightmare, even if they don't know it themselves.
"A fraction of a fraction of a fraction is still far too much.
"I envy those with the privilege of believing in miracles.
"I envy those with the privilege of believing in others.
"I envy those with the privilege of believing in themselves.
"I'm the only powerless being.
"I don't know how much longer I can tolerate this existence."
…And so, Sariel continued to sink further down.
…
Athalia reached as high as she could.
No matter what she tried, nothing was working.
"Aha!"
A glint appeared in her dark eyes as she noticed an opportunity.
She lunged out and caught her target between her fingers, then she crushed it to death!
She let out a maniacal laugh as she watched the lifeless fly drop to the ground.
"Buzzing around for the last eight hours behind the seat, and then suddenly revealing yourself? Your demise is well deserved! Arrogance killed you, not I!
"Your bravery to challenge death cannot be ignored, but neither can I praise you, as your last stand was only taken due to your ignorance!! Ha, thank me in the afterlife for making it a fast process!"
She leapt up in celebration, only to be thrown back to earth by the seatbelt loosely strapped over her waist.
WHAM!
I forgot we had reached the halfway point. Need to worry about turbulence for the next few hours…
She fell back to the floor and exclaimed in pain, caressing the forming goose egg on her head.
She felt dizzy as she slowly swiveled her vision back and forth. She had an odd feeling like she was looking at things for the first time again, even though this scene was nothing new.
Surrounding her were 4 walls made of a rough white material. There were patches of discoloration and wear, as well as all sorts of misshapen marks.
They gave the impression that they had been in service for a long time, and had seen many things.
There was a large window to her right, and another to her left. You could barely see anything out of them; the material was only partially transparent.
It had always annoyed Athalia that there would be windows at all if they weren't going to be good ones.
But then again, it didn't really matter.
She knew that only pitch black lay beyond those windows. She was only annoyed on principle, which was rather common for her.
The floor was made out of a soft and bright red material that had the texture of a carpet, while also being slightly bouncy.
The ceiling was a dome of dark brown rock, with a circular cutout for a hatch. There were four oddly shaped seats made of the same bouncy material as the flooring. The entire room was only about 15 square feet.
The interior was quite well-lit, but there was no clear light source visible. The light seemed to come a little bit from everywhere.
Regaining her mental clarity as the ringing in her ears quieted down, Athalia heard someone's voice.
"-Alia?"
Athalia turned to look at the black-haired girl who was talking to her.
"Athalia, are you okay? You know, if your seatbelt had been tightly fastened, you wouldn't have been able to get enough height to hit your head."
The black-haired girl looked worried, but there was clearly amusement concealed within her expression.
Athalia didn't dignify her question with an answer, and responded with her own.
"How much longer until we arrive?"
Upon hearing this, the black-haired girl frowned.
"Let me hear your guess first."
"Twenty-four hours," Athalia said with a yawn after thinking for a moment.
The black-haired girl's eyebrows raised.
"Twenty-four? By my count, there's thirty-seven…"
Athalia looked guilty.
"You fell asleep, didn't you? Just because making noise isn't required yet doesn't mean you can get complacent."
Just then, Enza and Athalia felt all the hairs on their arms raise.
It's starting…
They both began counting out loud.
"One, two, three, four…"
…
Around 38 hours later
Both Enza and Athalia were startled by a sharp grinding and clicking noise from the ceiling. All of a sudden, they felt the entire room drop a few feet and hit the ground!
They heard a series of creaks from outside, and the hatch swung wide open.
A long and thin metal aperture with many joints snaked into the room. It darted forward with a flash, stopping an inch from Athalia's face. It was covered with a red plastic film.
She found this thing quite creepy, but did her best not to turn away.
The red film briefly flashed a brighter shade before returning to normal. It then snaked away from Athalia and approached Enza.
It glowed for less time and with less intensity than it had for Athalia. It then quickly retracted out of the hatch.
After a few moments, a ladder of dark rock was lowered into the room. Athalia wanted to jump forward and climb out first, but decided she was in a generous mood.
After waiting a few seconds to give the one who had lowered the ladder some time to move away, Enza climbed the ladder three rungs at a time. She stood on the roof and took in a deep breath of fresh air.
There's nothing quite like this taste, is there…
It's better each time.
It tastes like safety.
She turned around and looked behind her at the mechanism on the roof.
Large wheels fixed to a stone pillar. The building appeared to have been built around it, rather than the other way around.
Sandwiched between the wheels was a thick metal cable. It might have originally had some sort of coating, but it had been exposed to the elements for so long that only silver could be seen.
Click!
At the same moment a bright spotlight suddenly lit up and assaulted Enza's eyes, Athalia climbed out of the hatch.
They both squinted into the light as they heard a few footsteps, and then a gasp.
Athalia put her hands on her hips indignantly as she looked at the figure below.
"Don't act like you're surprised we're it back alive!"
A man was standing on the white rock floor below them. The majority of his face wasn't visible; Athalia and Enza could only see what the visor of his red HAZMAT suit allowed. Nevertheless, the disbelief in his eyes upon seeing the two of them was blatantly obvious.
Athalia jumped down, bending her knees as she hit the ground with a slight lack of grace.
The man in the hazmat suit cracked a smile and spoke out with a mocking voice.
"Do you need a hand? I thought you said "I'll never fall again!" What happened to all that, exactly?"
Athalia nearly tackled him before Enza grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"I get it, but save it."
Athalia opened her mouth and closed it again like a fish.
Enza turned and began walking quickly across the rock floor towards a set of dark red double doors in the corner. Athalia ran after her, taking a last glance behind her as she did…
A thick cable fading into a pitch black void.
She shuddered involuntarily and turned away as quickly as she had looked.
As she walked, Athalia looked up at the massive domed ceiling. It gave her a sense of vertigo.
Coming back to the hangar is always disorienting. It's more than seeing any of the objects; there are many larger and more confusing things on the other side.
It's must be the change in mindset that makes it so jarring…
That fresh air really is nice, too. It's so stuffy in the tram. Too bad I only get to enjoy the air for a second before my 5 senses are assaulted.
Enza reached the doors and yanked them wide open. open. She disappeared inside as Athalia raced in after her, dodging the doors as they swung closed.
There was a room that was about classroom size. The entire room was made of that same rough, white material. Two rectangular metal chambers in the center of the room…
They were three times as tall as a person, and both had been decorated with all sorts of written messages. The handwriting varied, but some people had clearly written more than others.
Each of the metal chambers had a door-shaped seam on the outer wall, and a curved handle.
Enza walked up to a small wooden table on the side of the room.
She picked up a thin syringe with a red plunger. She uncapped the needle. It was rather thick, considering it wasn't very long.
She grabbed a thick piece of cloth from the table and shoved it into her mouth, biting down hard.
I just have to remember. It only hurts for a second…
She took a deep breath in, and with one quick motion, jammed the needle into her left eye.
Not straight on, but at an angle; it pierced directly between the lid and the eyeball…
Enza wailed through the fabric and started to stumble to her left, but grabbed onto the table to steady herself. The whole time, she made sure to continue holding the syringe at an angle…
She slammed the plunger down and took the needle out as fast as she could.
That hurt way more than normal… whoever sharpened it was being lazy…
She looked at the second syringe on the other side of the table.
If this one's dull too, someone is dying for this…
A cluster of black tubes descended from the ceiling like snakes. They made a sound like gas releasing, but whatever was released was invisible.
Enza had just finished the injection into her other eye.
She sighed. "It doesn't get much easier."
She laid flat on her back on the ground. The snakes came closer…
Just a second later, the gas reached Enza's nostrils and her entire body went numb.
A pair of thin metal pincers extended from the hollow center of each tube. Each incisor was coated with the same transparent film used on the windows of the tram.
Someone Enza used to know really loved the stuff. He called it the "final evolution of duct tape."
Why must anything he said remain in my memory?
The incisors and instruments attached to the ends of the tubes clanked against each other, trying to get her attention.
She was going to nod, but remembered she couldn't, so she just shut her eyes tightly like she knew they were wordlessly requesting her to do.
In a flash, the tubes pried open Enza's mouth and shot inside!
Around a second later, she opened her eyes again.
Explorers were discouraged from keeping their eyes open during this procedure. it was common to come back from an expedition in a very disoriented state, and going through such a strange medical process immediately after wasn't ideal.
In the past, the Explorers would be blindfolded from the start. Sight was the only sense that couldn't be affected by the numbing agent, so physical measures had been considered necessary.
Even earlier than that, a total anesthetic had been used to ensure complete loss of consciousness. Unfortunately, both of these methods had resulted in certain accidents…
The current consensus was that the best option was to leave the burden of keeping their eyes closed on the Explorers themselves.
However, after enduring the process for a third time, Enza realized the tubes couldn't ensure what she did with her eyes once they entered her body, so she was free to keep them opened as she pleased.
Most people wouldn't have any reason to do so, but Enza had found that it produces a curious mental state. It wasn't often she could experience it, as the method she possessed to numb the body wasn't something she could use regularly on herself.
A series of clinking and squirming sounds could be heard from inside Enza's stomach as the tubes performed some sort of task. Thankfully, Enza couldn't hear a thing.
She was an isolated pair of eyes, observing the ceiling. Her body could currently be in the middle of being torn to shreds by a wake of vultures, but what would it matter? As long as none of her senses pick up on it, it's basically the same as if nothing was happening at all.
For about thirty seconds, it was complete freedom for her thoughts. She had been excited to see what interesting things would pop into her mind, as she was trying to be intentional about meditating.
She found herself thoroughly disappointed.
There are certain tasks the conscious mind must rely on the rest of the brain to accomplish on its own. Reflexes are an example of this. Spontaneous thoughts are another.
You can't force a thought to appear. The brain will reject this harder the more directed the thought is at a specific goal.
Because Enza was in search of profound thought, she was given exactly the opposite of what she wanted… she found it cruel. She couldn't think of anything at all…
Well, it's not the opposite of what I wanted, it's about halfway there.
A randomly chosen string of nonsense words are closer to being profound than something perfectly grammatical that lacks a heart.