Nesia 019

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So, I now am in the process of switching myself over from night shift to day shift.  I’m sure other people can do it easier, but I don’t have an easy time trying to change my entire sleep pattern.  Luckily I’ll only have to get up at four in the morning once this week.  Hopefully I’ll be coherent enough when I have to work.

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Nesia put the van in cruise control and locked the steering wheel, hoping that Ludi’s controls would be able to maintain their course.  The van was quickly drifting toward the side of the bridge and distance and timing would be everything.  In the end, though, calculations could only do so much when applied to reality.

“You crash us and I haunt you,” Preston yelled from the roof access hatch.  “Now hurry up.”

Preston’s face was obscured by sunglasses, hat and scarf and Nesia pulled up her own scarf before she took Preston’s hand and he hauled her onto the roof of a speeding van.  Preston handed her the backpack he had been carrying when he had previously jumped on top of the van roof.  Nesia quickly secured the buckles of the bag, ignoring the bullets that were starting to do damage to the bullet proof glass on top of van.

The two stayed ducked behind the glass as Nesia quickly grabbed the clips of her harness and connected them to the back of Preston’s harness.  She wrapped her arms around his chest and stared up the bridge, concentrating on finding the marker.  A dark overlay covered the world and bright lines outlined everything in a wire frame.  The lines of speeding cars blurred, but they were not her concern.  Her concern was a bright yellow flag in her mind that was the exact midway point.

“You and Ludi better be right with your calculations,” Preston yelled back as he gripped the bar on the top of the truck, his muscles tensing.  “Otherwise we’ll be making a different kind of scene.”

“Prep,” Nesia called out, ignoring Preston’s comment.

Ludi did not.  “Hey now,” the voice said over the radio, “since when have I ever failed you?  And last week doesn’t count because they didn’t fail.  It just had unexpected results.  Oh you, stop it.  It worked out in the end.  And stop talking to me.  I’m in the middle of something.”

“Have I introduced you to the concept of the mute button?” Preston teased.

“Oh, I have a mute button.  I just choose not to use it.”  Ludi laughed. 

“Set,” Nesia said as a different colored flag passed her vision.

Something shattered behind her and Preston’s language became more colorful than her outlined world.  Ignoring everything, Nesia watched as the distance between them and the yellow flag ticked down in front of her eyes.  The tightening squeeze in her arms was probably a better warning, but Preston still waited for her signal as the van neared the bridge rail.

“Now,” Nesia yelled, and Preston leapt off the van, taking her with him.

Preston saluted their pursuers while Nesia actually managed a little wave as they barely cleared the edge of the bridge.  Preston’s hands shot out, snatching a ring before their jump took them to their deaths.  He snapped his harness on a little too close for Nesia’s comfort as their momentum was changed from downward to a swinging arc under the bridge.

The man grabbed another pole, that had been added to the underside of the bridge by Ludi, and stopped their movement all together.  Nesia closed her eyes as her legs dangled above the mile drop to the canyon floor.  The only thing keep her from falling was her grip on Preston and a harness of Ludi’s design.

Above them there was the sound of car crashes, slamming doors, and angry pursuers.  Preston slowly worked at moving them along the pole, attaching a new safety line as a precaution.  They both stayed silent as they listened for the sign that their crazy stunt had actually drawn out the target.

“He sure is ugly for a human,” Ludi said over the com.  “I mean, you all are a little strange looking anyway, but that guy takes the biscuit.”

“Cake,” Nesia corrected.

“But I don’t like cake,” Ludi said.

“Plan A still good,” Preston interrupted, “or do we have to go back up there?”

“Oh, that,” Ludi said brightly.  “Mark took care of everything.  You get the prize.”

Preston sighed in relief as they reached the maintenance walkway under the bridge.  He cut both of his safety lines and dropped onto the small platform and hurried to the access door, carrying Nesia with him.  He grabbed the door handle and pulled, then cursed.

“Ludi,” Preston sighed.  “You forgot to leave the door unlocked.”

Nesia yawned as she got up, trying to piece together the events of her dream.  It was a memory and it gave her hope.  While the details of why she jumped off a bridge were still lost, at least she was remembering more of what had happened.  She even remembered that the event had only happened two years ago.

Taking Kale’s advice of last night, Nesia did not try to force a memory.  It was a test of patience, but she held on to the hope that eventually she would remember everything.  Probably would not be the case but that thought kept her from trying to relive her whole life in ten minutes.  She was feeling a lot better and coming into the main area to find Kale making breakfast helped boost her mood even more.

“You look well,” Kale said as he moved aside eight different paper-folded animals for her plate.  “I will answer one question about your past and we’ll see how you go from there.  Just a warning, I don’t know everything and I will stop if it looks like your mind can’t handle it.”

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What should she ask?

1 – When did we meet?

2 – Why am I Kate?

3 – What do I do for a living?

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