Facility HyB

Chapter Five: Weightlifting Master

I sit silently beside 001p, not at all fond that I still had nothing else to call her by. She sat with her toned bare legs folded up underneath her as she tilted her head up towards a lone ray of sunlight, her eyes closed peacefully and her fingers resting gently in a small glass cup of water. It still intrigued me how she no longer had to eat food, instead, performing what Doctor Mikeles called 'photosynthesis'. Using the energy from the sun instead of food.

I sat reclined against the cold wall, watching as the hard packed earth under me turn to lush green grass and finally to a small field of white daisies. This often happens when a.) 001p is relaxed or b.) when she was training her mind to strengthen her powers. We were in the training room waiting for the strength test to be set up; I still didn't understand why the weights went from five pounds all the way up to a semi-truck. I mean, it's not like either of us are going to be able to lift them.

I was happy that as long as I was with 001p I didn't have to wear that stupid leash. The collar and muzzle annoyed me as well but apparently I couldn't take them off. So with the no leash thing in my favor I, in turn, enjoyed my time with 001p. She didn't interrupt me when I talked to her, unlike the doctors or scientists who said I shouldn't speak whatsoever unless asked a direct question, and she even let me rant about how I didn't want to be here.

I tried every so often to see if I could get her to act more like the human she is...so far it hasn't worked. My stomach grumbles in pain, clenching tightly, causing me to hiss under my breath. I hated all the food here, it was tube food like astronauts ate in space; and it tasted nasty and always made me feel groggy. "001p?" I whisper, trying to get her attention without clueing the scientists across the room in. 

She opened her eyes and peered down at me, her face still holding no emotion. "I'm hungry. Can I have some blueberries?" It may have been a trick of the light, but her eyes softened ever so slightly; and without a word, she brought her hand out of the water and towards me with her palm facing upwards, droplets of water being absorbed as it moved through the air. I watched as the pale skin in the center of her palm split wide open and a dark vine pushed its way to the surface, growing into a small bush in her palm. In a matter of seconds, juicy ripe blueberries were popping up on the green plant.

This trick she had still both bothered me and fascinated me at the same time. The way she could grow any plant out of her very own body or out of the ground around her. But I had to admit, the fruit or vegetables she produced were the most tantalizing things in this rotten facility if not the world. I reach forward and pluck off all eight of them, popping them through the checker patterned wires and rolled them into my mouth all at once before the scientists or doctors could even look over. To them—if they were to look over, it would just look like she was holding a plant. I was the only one who knew of this talent she possessed. The good thing about not speaking unless spoken to or asked...new developments have to be discovered by the scientists themselves.

I sigh in pleasure, resting back against the wall and licking my lips in an attempt to taste the berries again. 001p looks at me with her big purple eyes, the vine-like black swirling around making the purple look darker than it truly was. Her coconut brown hair spilling over her shoulders, the flower crown I recently found out was actually growing out of her skull only added to her natural beauty. 

She opened her mouth to speak, but the annoying voice of the one and only Doctor Mikeles hollered first. "Time for the strength test 082a and 001p!" I didn't want to, but 001p was already standing up. She grabbed my wrist and tugged, bringing me to my feet and jogging across the room towards the first weights.

I didn't struggle, I knew it was futile to try and escape her grip. So we ended up right next to the mad doctor and his goons. "How about you show 082a how to do this, 001p." Doctor Mikeles asked even though I knew 001p saw it as a command by how her back stiffened ever so slightly and she stepped towards the five-pound weight. "Okay 082a. The goal of this exercise is to hold up each item for twenty seconds then move on, if you can't do it for twenty seconds then that will be the extent of your strength and we will record it."

And with that 001p lifted the five-pound weight and a tall scientist clad in a white lab coat stepped forward and clicked the stopwatch. On his signal, she dropped it and moved on to the next, and the next, and the one after that. My jaw steadily dropped as she easily lifted weights easily two, three, four times her own weight. Her own weight couldn't be over 120 pounds even though she was a seventeen-year-old girl, and yes I learned that she has been here for a year.

Each time she moved on to another object my heart skipped a beat. Especially after she lifted up the semi truck and started juggling a two hundred pound barbell and a small yellow car built for two people that had a rounded roof. 

"Is that even safe?!?" I finally managed to find my voice. The doctor jumped in shock, but if 001p was startled she didn't show it; instead she lifted up a small minivan with her foot and launched it into the air and added that to her juggling act.

Doctor Mikeles turned towards me just as 001p had added that item to her steadily growing flying objects. He looked down at me with his blue eyes alight with barely hidden laughter. He brought his hand up and pushed his half-moon glasses up his crooked nose—most likely broken several times...I would know what that looks like. "For you and me, definitely not. But for 001p it's perfectly safe."

I floundered for a second more before looking over at 001p, leaping back in shock. She was right beside me, the things she had been juggling now resting on the ground. I hadn't even heard her; whether that was from being distracted by Doctor Mikeles or because she was extremely silent I didn't know, and I didn't know which option scared me more. 

"Your turn 082a." She stepped aside and pushed me 'lightly' towards the weights. Which pretty much meant that I face plant in the dirt. Or I would have if her vise-like grip didn't latch onto my wrist, stopping me from falling. 

"Apologies 082a, I don't know my own strength when it comes to interactions with others."

I shook her off and stumbled over to the first weight, scowling at the doctor as he squinted at me. Bending down I gripped the five-pound weight with one hand and brought it up. I looked over to the scientist and waited for the signal, and dropped the weight after the twenty seconds were up. Moving over I grabbed the ten pound one, surprised when I was able to lift it up quite well. You know considering I'm nine and I hadn't been able to do this before.

Twenty seconds passed in a blur and I was moving onto the next weight, passing by the twelve and fifteen with only slight trouble. The next one, however, I struggled to lift, eighteen pounds being a bit much, but I still managed. Finally, I trudge over to the twenty-pound weight; I strained to lift it, hefting the large black disk into my shaking arms. My back ached as muscles I had never used were put into action. My hands become sweaty, making it harder for me to lift the lead object even remotely farther than I already had. Giving up I let it slip from my cramped fingers, watching as it fell out of my hands and slammed into the dry dirt where my bare feet had been moments before.

"Not bad 082a. Much better then we had hoped!" Doctor Mikeles called, scribbling down notes on a clipboard before calling for me to come over. I didn't want to, I really didn't. I wanted to run and hide, maybe even get out of here. But my brain quickly calculated how well that would end up working; me being nine I wouldn't last long out in the streets without knowing where I was. So if I wanted out, I would need to get 001p to understand how wrong this place was and for her to help me escape. With her help, no one in this facility would be able to catch us and we would be on our way.

"Since you two still need to get better acquainted and I need to do some paperwork, why don't you two go outside for a bit?" My heart nearly stopped. He was offering to let us outside, of course, there were sure to be guards, but this is my chance!! 

"Of course Doctor Mikeles." 001p beats me to it, already following a guard that was waving us over.