LUCID Hibernation

Chapter 4

The world around me suddenly springs to life. I stand in the middle of the remains of a fifteenth century castle in Britain. The crumbling walls are covered in mould and large trees have twisted there way between cracks in the brickwork. The scene changes slightly each time to add variety, however the elements involved are always similar. The point of my simulation is to analyse my surroundings; to study every brick and blade of grass. After a minute the landscape becomes completely black, as though the lights are being turned off. I then have to make my way to the location designated by the simulations voice instructions, which is a waterfall this time that can just be seen in the distance, all the while being bombarded by invisible foes and having your senses heightened. It's technically a suicide simulation, unless you have my abilities, the abilities I pay a heavy prise for. Anything less than this would be child's play, and someday even this might not be enough of a challenge. But for now I'm still not making it under the ten minute time limit; one minute to analyse and nine to make it across to the falls.

There are many different reasons for simulations: some are used to improve ones strategic skills, other's are to test how ones brain will think under pressure, there are even simulations that allow you to face a clone of yourself. However the main point to each and every simulation has nothing to do with what the simulations contain, rather it's to teach us how to force ourselves to wake up if we sense danger. There are times during our simulation where coach will attack us, hitting us with a plastic stick or something; we have to be able to sense the danger going on outside and wake up in time to evade the attack. Nero has done that to me only once and 'never again' as he says. I'd nearly choked him.

A minute has passed and I'm suddenly encompassed in darkness, I run straight to the tree line and wait. I may know the landscape well enough; however I don't know where the enemies will be coming from, I hear movement coming from the east and north of me, logically my brain says to head south-west, but this isn't about logic. My instincts are telling me to continue north, so that's the direction I head in. I find it rather funny that I'm able to sense the objects around me even though I wouldn't be able to see the outlines of hands if I spread them out in front of my face. I sense heavy movement in the trees above and move to the side barely dodging an attacker; I hear the thud of feet hitting the ground and duck, spinning my legs out to trip my opponent over. Then I'm on the move again. There's no point in fighting the enemy, this simulation is about evading obstacles in the dark, not unnecessarily attacking them. After the first two minutes I'm already halfway there, the only issues is from here on out things are going to get tricky. There are three groups surrounding me, from the east, north and west. The group in the North are loud, moving slowly and heavily, the ones in the west sound like they're moving fast, perhaps even on horseback. The ones that scare me though are in the west, they're almost as fast as the second group and moving extremely quietly, even I am having difficulty judging the numbers. Logic tells me to head west, it'd be easy to avoid horses in the compacted space of the trees, but what if I miss judged, what if they're not horses? Instinct sends me north, it's the safest root, I'll be able to hear them easily and I know what they are and how they'll fight if I have to engage. I evade the main group but unfortunately I don't detect the sweeper, who is moving with a great deal more stealth. I try to knock the sweeper down and move on, but their strength and agility outweigh my own and I soon find myself on my back, trying to tackle the brute off. I scrabble around until my hand stumbles on a rock and I crash it into the sweeper's skull. Standing up I freak, I listen out of the sound of the sweepers companions and try to head in the opposite direction of them, only to walk face first into a tree. Damn, I only have two minutes left, think! The waterfall is in the north and... My thoughts trail of, wait I'm not supposed to think, this isn't about thinking it's about instinct. I swing myself up into the nearest tree and climb to the top branches, feeling around to identify its shape, having a rough idea of where I am, I swing back down and run, there are no troops near by and within a few seconds I can already here the pounding of the waterfall, almost there. It's roaring in my ears now, so loud that I don't sense the enemy behind me until it's too late.

I wake up with a gasp, finding myself lying on the mattress in the Lucid Chamber; Obi is staring at me from his mat. 'How'd you go?' my words are hoarse from a dry throat, but other than that I'm okay. Obi shrugs, 'it was kind of scary, do most simulations force you to navigate through the dark?' I shake my head, 'no, this is the only one; it was designed to give me a challenge. 'And look at you; if the other Hibernators weren't already praising you they'll definitely be now. 'Most come out of that simulation vomiting from over active senses or even crying in frustration.' Obi smiles, 'maybe, but I still didn't do all the great,' he passes me a tablet with his results and I quickly pull up mine to compare. 'Wow,' I say, eyes widening, 'this is really impressive. 'You were only fifty metres from the waterfall, how did you even get that far?' it made no sense, without my analytical abilities and familiarity with heightened senses, it should be almost impossible unless you were extremely lucky. Obi frowns thoughtfully, 'I just took your advice, I remembered that staying calm was important, reminded myself that it wasn't real, then I followed my instinct. 'Although I think my logical mind couldn't completely shut down and so I got cornered by a pack of wolves.' I look at his vitals and other aspects the machine picked up, Obi never panicked, he never stopped moving and he evaded nearly every group he passed without killing a single enemy. I glance down at my own results, to me they are bad, I failed to detect the sweeper, I got lost, I panicked and I didn't make it to the waterfall. Obi glances at my screen, 'you were only a metre away. 'How did you manage that, is the real question here.' I smile, yes to most people that would seem extraordinary. 'It's just part of my abilities as a Hibernator,' I say quietly, and that's not completely a lie, it's just omitting truths. I see in Obi's eyes that he knows something is up, but he doesn't question it and for that I am grateful.

Class ends with a speech on not abusing our powers or inappropriately using them for things that don't require the additional skills. As we all know it's illegal to allow regular humans see what we're capable of, they are not to even know of our existence. After we're released from bondage, I stay in the library to read some history books concerning the world wars for a history assessment, a pain yes, but at least the topic's interesting enough. I read until the sun starts to set, then I leave the building, locking the door behind me. As I step out front I find Obi leaning against the fence playing with a blade of grass. On seeing me he jumps up, 'were you waiting for me? Obi just nods and moves to walk next to me. Strangely I don't mind him walking with me, even when he moves closer. I just have this strong yearning to know more about his past and I even feel as though I must protect him, like he's a really important friend, even though we've only known each other for three days.

**********************************************************************************

Thanks for Reading!