The nameless scientist in a white coat injected Lina in the arm with an equally nameless substance. Names were irrelevant in Script Labs, and they paid enough that she didn't care about their identities. She was only known by a code so long and convoluted, she could never remember half of it.
Lina hopped off the exam table and straightened her ponytail. She didn't need her unruly hair falling loose mid-test. What would they have for her today? Another task so ridiculous, it could only be accomplished by someone pumped full of their wonder drug? It rushed through her veins, sending her heartbeats and breaths into rapid succession. Everything grew clearer. Wider. Slower. The fastest man alive wouldn't be able to keep up, much less that old scientist who needed to go on the diet they had Lina on.
She claimed to do this for the money, but she did it for the brief moments like then. When the adrenaline rush made her invincible.
A false wall that hid the testing space slid out of sight, revealing several obstacles for her to overcome. Lina's gaze went straight to the end of the course: A loop just wide enough for her small frame to fit through. That wasn't the problem; it was the at least forty foot drop from its perch off a thin balance beam. There was no other beam—or even a mat on the cement floor—to land on.
She raised her eyebrows at the scientist.
He grinned, his double chin emphasized. "When I say go, you'll have thirty seconds. Though, I expect you to do it in twenty."
With a quick shake of her head to clear any negativity, Lina positioned herself to run.
"Three . . ."
She took a deep breath.
"Two . . ."
Her muscles tightened in anticipation.
"O—"
Lina took off. Padded barriers flung out of the floor, but she dodged each with ease. She'd learned their timing.
Then came the rings. She jumped and grabbed hold of them, her chest tight as she flipped upside down and let go, soaring over the tall barrier in her way, somersaulting onto a platform. She landed at its end, met by a long, metal pole. The only way up to the beam.
Shinnying up as fast as possible, that drop flashed through Lina's mind. But she ground her teeth and pushed the thought away. At the top, her feet instinctively reached across the short gap to the beam. She landed and immediately front flipped twice. On the third flip, she twisted her body so she dived over the next gap and through the hoop.
She was flying, a split second spent horizontal to the ground.
Then it grew closer.
And closer.
Lina somersaulted in the air to land on her feet. As they connected with the ground, pain shot up her legs and she crumpled to her knees. But she was alive. She did it.
"Thirty-one seconds. We'll have to run it again."
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Cold Fusion - A Sci-Fi Anthology
ContoA collection of competition entries, prompt responses and short stories. All are science fiction.
