Sanctify
Chapter 3 - To Owe One, Oh

Noriko woke up in her room and sat up, her eyes still closed. She shuffled off to her bathroom and when she stepped out, she was in her virtual gear, eyes wide open and long hair pulled back in a long ponytail. Pulling on a jacket and sweats, she pulled on sneakers and hurried out of the room after grabbing her bag. From the monitors that showed her room, everything looked normal.

Down the hallways, at her usual gait, she walked past several suits and lab coats, not minding any of them and not noticed by any of them. She entered the cafeteria and grabbed her usual brown bag meal and hurried along after smiling at the cafeteria lady, who looked up into the security camera after Noriko left. The camera gave a flash, as if acknowledging the look. The control room, again, remained put.

Down a set of corridors and through a security booth, Noriko was scanned and her gear was noted as secure because of her badge clearance. When she thanked the guards, she left an apple for the man behind the desk, and he took a bite with a smile. Her dropping off fruit for the man had become a habit. The control room remained put.

There were no signs of suspicion. After ten years of watching the young girl who gave up her freedom for the sake of her friends, they knew she was a flight risk from the first day. She proved it when she tried to break out during the first year of her collection.

For that first year, Noriko proved her value and skill when she hacked all of the systems, moved unseen through the facility, and almost made it out before being caught by the man who had, originally, dragged her in and under. Tyler Burlent was the ultimate enforcer of TriVerse.

Noriko sat in her bed, awake half an hour earlier than her usual schedule. The moment the clock struck 5:00 ante meridiem, Noriko sat up and walked into the bathroom. That moment on, the control room noted her prolonged inaction and noted it. No need for alarm until the third strike, but the newest member of the Silent Campaign had just been added, and Agent Burlent had warned them about her tendencies.

Inside the bathroom in question, Noriko pulled on the stealth suit she had acquired days before. She had learned of its existence when traveling through the cyber network she had been brought in to reinforce, build, and develop. The first conversation had been awkward but as she built it up, she found it capable of artificial intelligence, which helped it match and enhance her abilities. She nicknamed the intelligence PES for Physical Enhancement Stimulator. As she climbed out of her bathroom and into the ventilation shaft above her bathroom, she smiled, feeling lighter without much effort.

Passing through without a sound, Noriko pushed out of the laundry vent and grabbed the bag she had stowed the night before. She grabbed the PES jacket and jumped into a laundry cart. Covering herself, she waited and, on schedule, a lady walked up to the cart and pushed it into a line with others.

Noriko waited, watching and counting the tiles and bumps on the ground. She felt the turns and mapped it through her mind. She could feel the added sheets being tossed above her, but she held still, trusting PES to keep her concealed. At the detector stations, she waited for the cart to stop. And the moment it hit the wall, in line to be dumped and its contents washed, Noriko jumped out, ran past the workers, who frowned at her, and headed for the backdoor that the kitchen staff had for shipments of new crates would switch out with the old ones.

And it was there that Noriko slipped past the cafeteria folk, careful to remain out of sight. She managed to reach an old crate when it broke, tore a gash through her right side, exposing bone to the air. She tried to muffle her scream of pain but as the guards found her, she passed out.

When she woke again, Agent Burlent sat next to her bedside, reading the punishment manual. Though Noriko drifted in and out of sleep, she remembered begging and pleading with the young agent, “Let me see my friends once more. Please, sir, grant me this dying wish.”

And to that, Agent Burlent replied, “You’re eight, kid. Talk your age,” he added without looking up at her from his book.

The days wore on until Noriko could walk again and when she, finally, was cleared from the hospital wing of the facility, Agent Burlent walked her back to her room. There, with balloons, flowers, and a cake, Professor Egas waited for her. Agent Burlent watched as Professor Egas picked her up and embraced her, much like a father would his lost child, but the scene didn’t move Tyler, who left them alone.

When Professor Egas had ensured their privacy, he swallowed and wiped away tears. “We all thought the worst for you, Nox. What happened?” he whispered, unable to speak louder due to the emotion in his words.

And Noriko explained what she knew and suspected from her time at the facility; a quick kidnapping that simply made her seem like another missing kid in the city. She inquired after everyone in her past life and admitted to being injured because of an escape attempt, which led Professor Egas to admit, “They feared for your life but value your work too much to release you, so they thought bringing me in to collaborate with you would help keep you sane under their watch.”

At this, Noriko bowed her head, unable to hide her disappointment, and Professor Egas nodded, “I’m sorry, little one, but I cannot help you escape from here. But,” he pulled out a small box and held it up to her, “I can be your connection to the outside world.”

Noriko opened it and pulled out a rectangular double frame. She opened it slowly and, as emotion overwhelmed her, Noriko fell onto her bed, sobbing. On one side of the frame was a photo of Professor Egas, Naomi, and a baby in pink blankets. On the other side of the frame was a photo of Topher with his arms around Diane, and Mavis holding onto a sneaky looking Noriko. Professor Egas knew that would happen, or something to that effect, and gently pat her back, knowing Naomi would have done so were she there.

After that wild incident, they hired a special insurance policy that kept her in place. Everyone in the control room knew Dr. Egas was the first person to call when Noriko had any issues. And, of course, upon entering her digital dome of information and work, Professor Egas greeted Noriko with a few homemade dishes and letters.

Noriko smiled and asked, “How is Evelyn?”

Dr. Egas sighed and replied, “Quite the terrible tens, if you ask me.” And without breaking stride, he added, “Topher escorted Diane to the prom and Mavis attended with a girl named Shani Chen from Class 9.”

Noriko smiled, looking through the photos and nodded, “They look good together.”

Dr. Egas grimaced, knowing he didn’t want to show them to her, but Naomi had insisted. Aside from Dr. Egas, only his wife knew of her situation and no one kept a secret better than Naomi. Another reason was that those in higher command had found it time for Noriko to fully understand what the Silent Campaign was and why she had been abducted into it.

Sensing his tension, Noriko asked, “Professor? Is everything well?”

Dr. Egas swallowed. Only the most loyal of his students, which included her, still held onto the endearing term of ‘Professor’ whereas the rest of the world around him referred to him as doctor. It broke his heart and filled his mind with hopeless thoughts at the same time. He turned to her in his chair and asked, “Riko, do you know what the Silent Campaign is?”

Noriko thought for a moment before she replied, “A program of solitude where the candidates are tested and grown by an alternative structures and rewards?”

Dr. Egas shook his head and turned on a grid to accompany the speech he had spent years preparing for her. He explained, “The NSA wanted a legitimate way of ensuring a future of peace and growth of knowledge. After conferring with several other agencies, TriVerse was established as a branch of the government that conducted studies on special minds.”

“Like mine,” Noriko put in.

Dr. Egas nodded, “Yes, like yours. And when a certain number had been recruited and honed to their liking, they put the subject under somewhat of a physical freeze while the mind remains in dream state, until they are awoken in the future for further advancements. That is to say, the body’s growth slows down by a prominent fraction. It is speculated that the technology of the future could infuse your body with machine parts so that your knowledge, wisdom, and abilities could transcend time.”

Noriko nodded slowly, hoping to hide her horror at the thought.

And then Dr. Egas continued, more carefully, “During your sleep, the system will continuously check on you and, perhaps, even perform experiments to see how the body responds, along with the lengths at which the sleeping form can endure.”

Noriko was quiet for a moment before she asked, “Are they planning to do that to me?”

Dr. Egas nodded, “The day after tomorrow.” Noriko swallowed, visibly, and Dr. Egas continued, “Your pod and arrangements are being finalized during these counting hours.”

Noriko covered her face with her hands and cried softly; “Can’t I go back to the old life? Please?” She whimpered, “I’ll be good. I won’t talk back. I can hide at the Haven.”

Dr. Egas sighed and walked over to place an arm on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, child. For whatever reason they have, the Silent Campaign has claimed you. Tomorrow, one last dinner with my family, before you leave us for the future.” Noriko nodded, very not energetic and quite somber. Dr. Egas knew the consequences and the dangers, but he also knew that this would truly change the future of his little extended family.

Mavis and Topher walked quietly through the chilly weather. Diane met them at the empty grave that had ‘Noriko Nox’ on a plaque and sighed, “I miss you, Nox.”

The three words barely left her mouth when, from behind them, Noriko retorted, “Not as much as I missed you guys.”

Mavis, Topher, and Diane turned to see Noriko leaning against a tree, watching them. She stepped away from the shadows and into the sunlight, where she welcomed the warmth of the sun and her friends, who threw themselves at her, laughing and crying, shouting and yelling all at the same time. They fell in a heap in the grass, everyone reverting back to the years ago, before the plaque was put into the ground.

From a distance, Agent Burlent watched the small reunion with Dr. Egas and shook his head, “We shouldn’t have done this.”

Dr. Egas nodded and replied, “I agree, this was a bad idea. But she’s about to be left behind by the rest of the world. She needs the chance to say good-bye,” he insisted.

Agent Burlent shrugged and reminded Dr. Egas, “Have her back to the facility by 11. Any later and her sync might be off from the others.” And then he added, “I’ll hold you, personally responsible, Dr. Egas.” And he was gone.

In that moment, Dr. Egas found himself watching the four kids he had nearly raised play in the sun with a sorrowful and heavy heart. He later confessed to his wife his regret for pushing his way back into her life despite knowing how terrible a fate there was in store for her. The ever-loving and understanding Naomi held onto her weeping husband. Pregnant with her second child, she felt his sorrow to her bones. And from the doorway, she noticed the eyes of their 10-year-old daughter watching, her own eyes filled with tears for her father. As if responding to the torrent of emotions; it rained.