Choices We Make

Chapter Four: Figuring It Out

After a round of tests, including the dreaded needle, Sean asked Meaghan to find them a field hidden someone off the beaten path so that he could run some tests. Meaghan found one somewhere off in Montana of all states. This place had a lot of wide-open spaces and a quick lap by Alex told them that the nearest person was miles away.

No one would find out what they were up to.

Sean was happily setting up equipment, directing Dallas to help him. Alex was still doing laps in the air. A chill met the group, Montana was closer to winter than Kentucky was.

"Alright, ladies. Today we're going start to get a feel for some of the things you can do. After interviewing you while the earlier preliminary tests, I got feel for what you know about. There might be things we have to discover."

"Are you going to lecture like this all afternoon or are we going to have a little fun?" Alex crossed her arms.

"We're getting there. First off I need you to put up on these modified Fitbits. Those will let me monitor your vitals during the tests. I have a baseline from earlier." Paul handed them each a bracelet and they put it on. "Also gives me a good excuse to try these out. Take these too."

He handed them all earpieces. "I have these set to go about two miles out. To see how far you can go up."

"I can't fly." Nicole crossed her arms.

"She hasn't even tried." Alex rolled her eyes.

"I've got this." Dallas grabbed Nicole by the arm and led her a few feet away. Meaghan imagined a wall up so she couldn't hear the conversation they were having. After a minute, Dallas picked her up and swung her around, letting her go but she stayed up in the air. Dallas reached out but she went just out of his reach, the two involving themselves in their little dance, losing themselves in their little world.

"This is cute an all." Alex ruined the moment. "But some of us have homework that we do need to get to eventually."

She shot up in the air. "Catch me if you can."

Meaghan raced after her, Nicole following close behind. "This is fun."

"Go up guys. Let's see how far we can go." Sean's voice came in the earpiece.

Meaghan followed the pair straight up pushing herself to see how far she could go. After a while, she realized that she couldn't hear Sean's updates and realized that they were over a couple of miles up.

"This is cool." Nicole smiled as they met. "Wonder how high up we are."

"We're halfway up Everest." Alex did a little circle. "This is incredible."

"Should we keep going? Or wait for Sean to expand our limits."

"Well, we can maybe go another mile up but the air pressure is going to get tricky soon." Alex looked up. "I don't know if I want to try messing with that the first go."

Meaghan shook her head. "Yeah, I agree. Wonder how fast we can go."

"Freefall?"

"Maybe." Meaghan let herself drop, directing herself a bit as she fell a few hundred feet. Last summer, the three of them had driven up to an amusement park in Ohio that had a roller coaster that took you from 0 to 120 miles per hour. It dropped you down a few hundred feet tall hills and it was a rush.

But that was nothing compared to the feeling of free-falling.

It was a feeling of pure freedom and Meaghan let herself turn around and around as she fell. Finally, she took control again and swooped around, using the momentum to making a roller-coaster-like drop. Nearby, she saw a body of water and flew over, letting her hand brush the water's edge for a second before flying back around to the field. She landed, flicking the water from the lake at Alex.