The Kota

by Sunshine Somerville

  Still sitting on the floor, Bullseye motioned behind her instructor. “Shut the door, Edy. What do you want?”

  Edlyn closed the door and came to stand in front of her pupil. “They haven’t been able to study your genetics in the lab. When I asked the doctors, they said there wasn’t anything they could examine. You don’t have any records or samples on file.”

  Bullseye now remembered she’d asked her instructor to look into her medical records. If she wanted to perform to the best of her ability, she had to know everything she could about her abilities. The news that she couldn’t investigate her medical information was disappointing.

  “Why aren’t there any? I’m on the DRK treatment injection schedule. There must be record of-”

  “No, there’s nothing,” Edlyn cut in. “Bulls, I shouldn’t poke around. I know you’re on the DRK schedule, so that’s the first place I checked. Your injection records are classified, I’m guessing so no one can look in your related medical file. I mean, your records are more protected than any I’ve ever seen. None of the tests on your mutate-genes are accessible. The doctors I talked to said your blood samples from when you first dematerialized were confiscated from their lab. I don’t know why everything is so confidential, but I don’t think I need to explain my reasons for giving up. I’m sorry. I can’t risk getting caught poking my nose into something I don’t even understand.”

  Bullseye frowned. “Yeah, I don’t blame you. Sorry. I thought maybe there’d be a medical explanation for how I dematerialize. If my information is classified, then I’ll just have to figure this out on my own. Why would my med files be classified?”

  “I don’t know. But, hey, whatever your mutate-genes are doing, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. When you first got here, your hand-eye coordination was explainable, but this whole invisibility thing is beyond me. And it’s getting stronger, isn’t it? I’ve seen that much during your training sessions.”

  “Yeah.” Bullseye chuckled in memory. “Let’s be glad I’ve figured out how to dematerialize my clothes with me now.”

  Edlyn shook her head in wonder. “I’ve never seen anything like it. How do you do it?”

  “I don’t know. That’s why I was hoping you’d find something in my med file.”

  “Okay, so we don’t know how you do it, but what does it feel like? You have superb control of it now, so you must be able to feel it out when it happens.”

  Bullseye tried to compose enough words to explain. She’d been just as amazed as everyone else when the ability first manifested itself. Since then she’d had time to practice, and she wasn’t afraid anymore. Still, it was very strange.

  “The first time was a real shock. I was training for stealth with Matsuri, and he caught me as I was sneaking up on the attack dummies. Mat was going to grab my arm and use it to get control for the win, but I somehow made my arm…fade away. Mat’s arm went right through where mine should’ve been, and I looked down and saw that my ID tag had fallen out of my nonexistent hand.”

  Edlyn nodded, remembering that much.

  “I think it has something to do with the space dimension. I always see the edges of my materialized parts flicker red and yellow like the light of the portals. It’s like my matter goes into the space dimension, and I’m so interwoven on so small a scale that no one can see me. I go invisible because my body is broken up and put into the space between…air, I guess. No one can feel me either because I’m in a…matter limbo. I can move around objects and go through slivers of space. I don’t think I stretch or change form or anything. My body’s always…in my normal shape. I just move through the space around the smallest particles.”

  “So…” Edlyn tried to help. “On a microscopic level, it’s probably like water moving around rocks or through a screen?”

  “Yeah, I guess so. And, I feel a tingling, burning sensation like the one I get whenever I use my mutate-genes. Only, when I dematerialize, the tingling burn is outside my skin, not inside like when my mutate-genes kick in.”

  It’s impossible to describe, she thought.

  “That first time with Matsuri, I really had to concentrate to pull my arm back together. My ID tag lay on the floor, but my hand didn’t have a cut or anything. When you reported what happened and those doctors took me to the lab, I did it again for them. They took readings and samples – I guess we’ll never know if they found answers. But I remember Cruelthor didn’t seem that surprised. He just told me he thought my new skill would be useful and that I should keep practicing.”

  “Yeah. He ordered me to set aside time to let you practice.”

  Bullseye nodded, then shrugged. “You know the rest. I’ve dematerialized in training sessions ever since. I can make my whole body – and my clothes, and small objects I’m holding – invisible by slipping my matter into the space dimension.” She frowned. “I don’t know how it works. Believe me, I’m even more curious than you are. That’s why I’ve been trying to find some answers.”

  Edlyn was thinking. “This has to be why your med files are closed. You’re sure the lab crew didn’t say anything when you were tested that first time?”

  “Not to me. But Cruelthor sure got there in a hurry, so they must’ve found something. They did put me onto the idea of the space dimension because they analyzed my genes and didn’t find anything new. They tested my blood, took a spinal tap, did an MRI. None of that seemed to give them any answers.” Bullseye thought a moment. “I remember a couple of scientists used equipment I didn’t recognize. I think it was stealth technology, working with electromagnetic light waves, radiation, that kind of thing.”

  Edlyn raised an eyebrow. “That might make sense. Mutate-genes were first created by radiation during genetic experimentation, right? Since you’re a MOB, you must have that same radiation. Maybe it’s the radiation that somehow lets you dematerialize into the space dimension.”

  “Yeah…” Bullseye twisted her mouth in thought. “You know that tingling burn I feel? What if it’s from the radiation? When I only make a part of myself invisible, I focus the sensation there. It might work like controlling body heat – strong in some places and weaker in others. I can make my clothes dematerialize because I drive the sensation over my skin where the clothes are, although the thinner and tighter the clothes the better. The stealth-like radiation really might be a part of this. It would account for the tingling burn I feel. All MOB have radiation because of how mutate-genes work, but it must work differently in me for some reason. None of the other MOB ever know what sensation I’m talking about, but…”

  Wait a second, she thought. If this whole thing means I’m different from everybody else, does this have to do with the power in me that Cruelthor’s father feared? Are my strange abilities a part of whatever Cruelthor was talking about?

  Edlyn sighed and knelt on the floor beside Bullseye. “It’s incredible, however it works. No one’s ever been able to control the space dimension – Abduction learned that the hard way. You’re a real miracle, Bulls. I’ve been telling the other instructors you’re no normal sixteen-year-old. You reason like a training manual and behave like an adult, but that’s just from training. These skills are beyond known mutate-genetic abilities.”

  “Yeah, I’m an enigma.” Bullseye thought back on what she’d overheard.

  “No, I mean it. Someday…” Edlyn shook her head.

  Bullseye looked at her instructor.

  I wonder if Edy knows about this prophecy, she thought. If this power is what makes my abilities so unique, that’s probably what Cruelthor wants hidden in my files. I can’t admit eavesdropping on Cruelthor’s private meeting, but I might be able to get at this another way. If my abilities come from the power Cruelthor’s father feared, then it must connect to my mother and to our Kota people somehow. If Edy thinks I’m curious about my mother, she might let slip other secrets they’re not telling me. I want to know why I can do what I do!

  Bullseye tried to appear innocent. “I’ve only been able to demateriali
ze since coming to the Dominion. I couldn’t do it when I lived with my mother. Of course, I was only seven when I left, and it was ridiculous enough that I could use my mutate-genes that early. With Vedanleé, I only had perfect aim.”

  Edlyn’s expression flashed with understanding. “You know Cruelthor doesn’t want anyone talking about her. Especially with you.”

  “Yep, that’s true.” Bullseye made no attempt to hide her intentions now. “I’m just wondering if my mother’s magic has anything to do with my abilities. She was teaching me to be a witch like her. I remember some of what she taught me. It was scary stuff. Maybe the magic is responsible for my dematerializing. Maybe it was a part of our people’s magic and I’ve inherited power because of it.”

  “We shouldn’t be talking about this.”

  “But nobody ever tells me anything about my mother or anything useful! I have to scrap around for information on my own. Edy, if you can’t get into my med file, can’t you at least tell me what you know about my mother? It’d be better than nothing.”

  The older woman relented.

  That’s one of her flaws, thought Bullseye. Edy caves if you poke a little emotional sympathy.

  “Okay,” said Edlyn. “I never met Vedanleé because I wasn’t in the Dominion yet when she was here. All I know is that she fought with Cruelthor’s father and left. She ended up with the rest of your people. Then you were born, and something happened. Vedanleé came back to the Dominion and bargained with Cruelthor’s father. He agreed to help her get you back, and she agreed to lead him to your people where they were hiding.”

  “How were we separated in the first place?”

  “I don’t know. Anyway, Cruelthor’s father told Vedanleé he’d let the two of you live in peace. Everyone knew he was lying. Vedanleé must’ve known it too, and she put a curse on him if he broke his deal by coming after her. When the Dominion exterminated the Kota, Vedanleé slipped away with you and went off into hiding. Cruelthor’s father sent assassins after her, but he went mad and died. Then Cruelthor took over. Cruelthor sent for you, and your mother agreed that he could raise you in a better environment. Vedanleé went back to wherever she’d been living and left you in your brother’s care. You were seven. You know the rest. I don’t know if her magic did anything to you or not.”

  Bullseye nodded. She’d heard it all before, but something was missing. Something had to be missing. Whenever she heard this story, she always thought they were leaving parts out. Now that she knew a power was inside her, Bullseye suspected whatever they were hiding had to do with it.

  I’d never use my abilities against the Dominion, she thought, so why won’t Cruelthor let me know about them? Doesn’t he know how loyal I am?

  Edlyn gave her a weak smile. “I swear, Bulls, that’s all I know. You need to drop these questions about your mother. It must be hard, but your life doesn’t leave room for these kinds of questions. You aren’t allowed to be an ordinary young woman, and your mother is gone. You need to forget about these things. Cruelthor wouldn’t be happy if he knew we were talking about her.”

  Bullseye paused and traced a pattern on the floor. Edlyn thinking she was so interested about her mother made her wonder if maybe she should be. But she just wasn’t wired that way.

  “Yeah, I know I should drop it. Cruelthor factored that psychologist who tried to help me recall my early childhood.”

  Edlyn rose to her feet. “I should go. By the way, I thought I’d give you a heads-up on your next mission. The Underground stole a transport full of cerebral augmentation equipment this morning. That’s why they wanted the augmentation info from that executive. We think they’re planning to operate on citizens so Dominion executives will have competition for top-ranking business positions. You and Matsuri are being sent to the medical facility where the Underground is storing the equipment. It’s one of our own facilities, or so we thought. Apparently the rebels have had control of it for months. Your orders are to bomb the building. The mission is to send a message as much as anything, so you’ll destroy the equipment right along with the rest of the facility. There’s no need to recover it.”

  This new trouble put the past discussion aside, and Bullseye scowled. “Great. Another assignment and I’m not healed from the last one.”

  “So you are hurt?”

  Bullseye nodded and raised her arm to reveal the bruise.

  “Do you want me to pull you from the mission? I can pass it along to another team.”

  “No, I’ll be fine.”

  “You don’t look fine.”

  Bullseye shook her hair in her face. She felt tears of frustration coming, and she didn’t want to break down in front of her instructor. “I don’t want to flush my shot at this promotion. Cruelthor’s only pushing me so I’ll be ready to be an Elite. I need to be an Elite, Edy.”

  Edlyn paused. “Do you even know what you’d be leading as an Elite, Bulls?”

  “Sure. Cruelthor said I’d be assigned half of Diablo’s region on the Mainland-Euro.”

  “That’s not what I meant. How often have you been in the outside world? Not undercover – that’s different. You lived in isolation with your mother. You’ve been kept a secret since you got here. Now Cruelthor thinks you’d be capable of governing an entire region? You don’t know what it’s really like out there. You haven’t seen enough. I’m not sure you know how to govern to the extent necessary. He keeps forgetting you’re only sixteen.”

  This is the one thing I need, thought Bullseye. Can’t Edlyn see that?

  Bullseye tried not to glare at her instructor as she held her voice under control. “This double life inside the Youth is killing me, and for what? I haven’t been groomed and educated this whole time just to end up an assassin. Besides, it’s not like assassin operatives have particularly lengthy lifespans, so is that what you want for me?”

  “No, Bulls. I only meant-”

  “I can’t explain it, but I know I’m meant to be a leader.” Bullseye was sure of this with every fiber of her being. She again fought back tears. “I have to be an Elite, Edy. Once I am, things will make sense.”

  Edlyn looked at her. “Okay. I’ll expect to see you first thing in the morning for mission briefing.” With that, she turned to the door and left.

  Bullseye held her aching side, rose, and pulled a blanket off her bunk. Wrapping herself in the blanket, she lay back on the floor and tried to get comfortable.

  So what if I am isolated? she thought. It’s not like there’s anything better out there. I have to focus and stop questioning everything. If this is all some big secret, I shouldn’t pry. Cruelthor has his reasons, I’m sure. I have to stick to my work and prove I’m worth the trouble. I really should sleep now…

  After lying on the floor for an hour and listening to the shuffles from the hall outside, she sat up. “Flush sleep.”

  Bullseye grabbed clothes, changed, and headed out. After she opened the door to the corridor, she focused on her body and felt a tingling, burning sensation on her skin that she’d come to recognize. For the briefest instant, she saw her body flicker with reddish light. Then, feeling that her body was now in that strange, other state, she walked through the cracked doorway. Once on the other side, she materialized her hand to solid form and shut the door. Bullseye concentrated to dematerialize again and walked unseen down the hall.

  A roaming Youth cut off her path, but this was no problem. She continued walking, and her matter inside the space dimension commingled with his for the briefest instant as they passed. Turning, she saw that he hadn’t sensed anything. Bullseye strolled by the oblivious guards at the exterior exit and stopped long enough to see nothing on the security monitor where she stood. Next she turned to the closed exit. This was her greatest challenge at the moment, so she concentrated extra hard on the crack of the double doors. Then, she stepped through the doors – literally – by focusing on the slight gap between them.

  In the cool moonlight, she let go of her focus and came back into visible
existence. After a quick check, she smiled. She’d once again kept her clothes on through the dematerialization process. Free now, she walked into the Youth’s recreational yard. The sound of a bouncing ball reached her from the courts.

  Well, she thought, let’s meet the other Youth defiant enough to be out after curfew.

  “Yo, cha!” The greeting definitely came from a Youth.

  Bullseye looked around and saw a tough-looking, short-haired, blond girl sitting on the back of a bench beside the ball courts. The girl tried to appear threatening, but she was caught off-guard to find a stranger on her turf this late after curfew. A smaller, dark-skinned girl sat with her, but she seemed reliant on her friend for security. Three guys played ball on the court, but they stopped long enough to size her up. By the lights coming from the roof of the compound, Bullseye saw their faces and recognized each from the Youth profiles she’d studied. Even together they weren’t much of a threat.

  “Who are you?”

  The young man who addressed Bullseye she knew to be Jib. He was around her age, well-built, and tall. His dark skin made him difficult to see against the night. Erik, his pale friend beside him, stuck out like a beacon. The third teen, Ian, was nondescript but did nothing to hide he was checking her out. Nikki, the tough girl on the bench, also saw this and wasn’t pleased. The dark-skinned girl, Lilae, didn’t look like she wanted to get involved.

  Time to slip on a mask of superiority, thought Bullseye. They’re trying to intimidate me, and that certainly means they don’t know who I am! That gives me the advantage. I bet I can have a bit of fun with them. And they might be useful… They’ll be my unknowing test subjects.

  “What are you doin’ here, cha?” Erik sounded annoyed.

  “I’m just lookin’ for some glow.” (Despite the fact that she spent most of her time on her own, she did know how to talk like the Youth. It was essential for survival whenever she had to blend in among her peers.)