Skyfall Chapter 2
Chapter 2 A few weeks passed and I dozed in and out of consciousness. Misha came to clean and dress my wounds daily as well as feed me. Simple tasks like drinking water like a human were awkward for me, but eventually I was able to manage them. I decided I better master human behavior, since this was the species I had identified with and had been forced to stay with. They seemed to be the dominant species of the planet, anyways. I only wished I hadn't made the mistake of becoming half of two creatures. The food he gave me was usually good. I was not sure exactly what it was made of, but it sustained my body. Fruits were good for me Misha told me, but the meat I ate was what I craved. He would laugh and say it was because I was half wolf. During these past weeks we spoke about many of the planets customs. I was unable to keep a detailed log due to the fact that my brain has been so overwhelmed with new information. When Misha came to visit, I noticed that my midsection was always covered. He never removed the sheet from this area. I did not wear clothing like he did, but I knew that nudity was something that made humans uncomfortable. It was odd to me, but I did not bring it up. I had studied nearly all of my body, except that area. I had an uncomfortable feeling in my mind, most likely due to my downloaded information telling me nudity was wrong. I only really became nude to urinate or defecate in the toilet like device near the side of my bed, like Misha had instructed me to do. Getting used to this new body's functions was...odd to say the least. I think Misha began to realize I wasn't from around here, but he never asked. I heard him talking with some other humans once in a while outside my door, but I never met anyone besides Misha. I wondered if this was for a reason. He grew tired of calling me "boy" or "buddy" so we decided on the name "Jay" as a temporary one. He said it was a type of bird that I reminded him of. I wasn't sure if I should be offended or not...being compared to a small, weak bird. But I agreed to the name. My body seemed to heal rather quickly. Within a few days I was able to stand and walk around for short periods of time. Misha unlocked my bond during this time, but always locked me back up before leaving. I began to feel more uncomfortable, which resulted in me asking more questions. He continued to assure me that the bond was for my "own good" and that he just did not want me to "harm myself or others". I did not understand why he would not trust me. I had posed no threat...I had been compliant in every way that he asked. "Misha, following your logic, I should not trust you at all. I should be trying to escape you, and then keep you locked away." I said as I finally confronted him on the matter. He sighed, "Look, bud, it's not like that. I just... I have my orders. They keep things pretty secretive around here. We don't want our data getting into the wrong hands." He used the word 'bud' again... "We study a lot of really vital, but dangerous things here. If the wrong people got a hold of this data...really bad things could happen. We just need to make sure you understand that, that's all." His answer seemed to make sense. I felt satisfied with it. Perhaps I was somehow acting suspicious. After all, I still did not understand the moral system of this planet...There are some things that downloaded information cannot fully teach you. Emotions and morals are two of the major ones, and they are extremely important to learn. After we had discussed that matter, I stopped asking so many questions again. I figured it was best to learn in more subtle ways. Slowly, I discovered emotions outside of fear and sadness. I began to feel happy when Misha would give me his warm, friendly smile when he came in to the room to do the daily routine. We laughed on occasion... I cannot even remember what the circumstances were; I just remember laughing for the first time. As my throat healed and my voice developed, I was still quiet, but had a deep tone. My laugh sounded less intimidating than my voice, it always made Misha laugh harder, which embarrassed me. Oh well, I guess I did not NEED to be threatening; not right now. Not with Misha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Misha promised that today he would walk me around the laboratory. I've been wide awake all night waiting for him. I cannot tell the time, but the lights in my room always turn off for certain periods of time. I assume this is the night and day cycle. I expressed yesterday that I longed to see the sunlight. I told him that I could not remember what the world outside looked like, and I was beginning to feel trapped. He checked with his boss and promised me we could walk around the facility tomorrow, and perhaps take a walk out in the courtyard... My ears shot foreword as I listened to the noises outside my door. I heard the other employees outside, the ones who normally came around in the morning. I was not sure what they did, but I would always hear them rustling outside my door near what I assumed was morning. This was the time my days started. I was beginning to get more and more nervous. It felt like time was passing incredibly slowly, which I have heard is a phenomenon that happens when someone was nervous or waiting for something. After what seemed like hours, I finally heard the door open. I jumped up so quickly that my bond snapped me back a step or two. Misha entered the room, carrying his usual clipboard, and a bundle of clothing. Oh, right...clothing. I looked down; I'd forgotten to cover myself. My face felt warm. Misha stared at my exposed body. We both sat silent for a few moments. He seemed to be studying me, and looked confused. I felt horrible. I quickly grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around myself, too embarrassed to speak. I felt like I had committed a terrible crime, or done something very shameful. I didn't want him to look at me. Slowly, I sank back into my bed. "Hi Jay!" He finally said, smiling. The event hadn't seemed to bother him at all. I attempted to return his smile. "I brought you clothing, you seem to realize that it's custom to wear it around, and I think I found you a good fit." He said, still smiling as he handed me white t-shirt and a pair of black shorts. I took the clothing shyly. "R-right" I stuttered. My rough voice sounded so pathetic. "You alright, Jay?" Misha asked, tilting his head. "Just uh...Just embarrassed is all." I admitted. "Ha!" He laughed, "Because I saw you naked? I've practically seen you naked every day, bud, don't worry about it." He said. With my heart still racing from the incident, I slipped on the t-shirt and didn't respond to him. Misha turned around, "Go ahead and slip the shorts on, too." I nodded and continued to put on the clothing. At this point, I realized my tail was jutting awkwardly out of the back of the shorts. I hadn't really considered the fact that I had a tail before, but now I wished I did not have one. I tried to make it fit comfortably while still covering myself. The fabric was soft, but felt so foreign. I felt better being covered, though. I walked over to Misha. I forgot I was bound to the wall still, and it caught me. Misha turned back around, "Ah, right." He brought a square-shaped item up to my bond, and the black shackle slipped off for the first time since I arrived. I wished I had paid more attention to what had just happened in case I they tried to bind me again... I did not want that to happen. The fur that was underneath my black shackle was pressed down and slightly stained with the black. Distracted, I studied the mark for a moment. Misha cleared his throat. "Are you ready to go out?" He asked. "Misha..." I began, my voice was soft, "I don't want to be locked up again. Okay?" He nodded with a straight face, "Sure, Jay." He turned and walked out the door, "Come on, we've got a lot to see!" I had to admit, I was really excited for this, but everything that had just happened left me feeling odd. I followed him out, eager to see what was beyond my prison. We walked out into a large, dark hallway. There were lights and other doors on the side of the walls we passed. I suddenly felt worse. Slowing down, I looked at the doors nervously. Misha turned to look at me. "Come on, there's nothing to be afraid of." He assured me, but it didn't help. The hallways were dark and empty; we kept walking past countless doors...prisons like mine, perhaps? I wondered if they housed creatures inside them, but I was too nervous to look inside through the small windows that some of them had. I continued to follow Misha in silence. At the end of the hallway there was a large, metallic door. Misha brought out his square again and pressed it up to a block on the wall. Trying to understand their technology, I touched the block on the wall after Misha removed his hand. My mind flooded with information. I pulled away casually. I did not want to take in too much information, otherwise Misha would have noticed something was happening to me. The metallic door shuddered and slid to the side, revealing a small box-shaped room. We stepped inside and he pressed the buttons on the wall. This is an elevator, my new information told me. The elevator began to move, I think upwards. The lights that represented each floor blinked, telling me we were passing them. We arrived on the second floor. The door of the elevator opened and the box filled with light, but not the horrible artificial light I have had to deal with for the past few weeks. This was REAL light. Sunlight. Unable to resist, I burst out of the elevator and into the light. I could already feel the warmth... Realizing my eyes were closed, I slowly opened them, and was disappointed with what I saw. I was standing in the middle of a dome with large, glass windows on one end. I felt sick. It looked too similar to something that existed at home. I attempted to observe the rest of the room and take my focus off of the windows. There were a few humans walking around, some in white lab coats, others in what looked like combat gear of some kind. Some were dressed casually like the clothing I was wearing. Everyone that saw me took time to look me over carefully, which made me very uncomfortable. Misha appeared beside me, "This is the entrance to the lab, the main floor." He explained as I continued to take in the sights. I gazed out the window and saw trees. The trees were very green and rose up high into the blue, clear sky. In the distance I could faintly see a mountain range. Perhaps those were the mountains my craft had crashed into. A human female approached us. This was the first time I'd seen a female of the species. Her figure and stance were quite different from the way Misha and the other human men carried themselves. Her hair was longer and silkier. It curled around her shoulders and glistened with a shining golden-red color. Her eyes were just as stunning, a bright green, almost matching the large trees outside the windows. She blinked and stared into my eyes, smiling. Her smile was different; there was something sinister about this one. It was more like a smirk. She shouted, catching me off guard. "HEY! Wes," She called over her shoulder, making me jump, "Look, Misha's pet's out for a walk today!" I sensed Misha tense up. "Fuck off, Sheila." He said. I had never heard him upset before. I watched the man who must be Wes run over to us. I tensed up as well. He was large, a few inches taller than Misha, who stood a few inches shorter than myself. His arms had bulging muscles and he was wearing a thick vest with some torn, black pants. I looked at Misha, who rolled his eyes. "Hey Mishaaaa!" Wes annunciated Misha's name in an odd way. Something told me he was mocking Misha, which made me angry. "Boss finally let you out again?" He smirked, just like Sheila. I let out an involuntary growl, my teeth must have been showing. This caused Wes to laugh. I felt so many unpleasant emotions towards this being... "Calm down." Misha said softly, placing a hand on my shoulder. His touch was calming. "Yeah, down boy." Wes grinned, "I'm just being a dick, man. I think it's cool that Misha gets to train a freak dog for a while." He winked at me while Sheila leaned into him, grinning. "Why don't you come to lunch with Sheila and I, Misha? Bring the dog, too." "Jay." I said, absorbing all of this social interaction. "Please call me that for now." Wes looked taken aback, "He speaks?" His smile nearly disappeared. "That's...really creepy." Misha laughed, "Eh, you get used to it. Sure, Jay and I will meet you for lunch. I still need to show him a few places, where are you off too?" It made me uncomfortable that Misha had agreed to meet with them. "Wes has training at the range," Sheila piped in, "and I actually just got off twenty-four hour duty. So I won't be joining you two for lunch." At least she won't be there. I thought to myself. Misha nodded, "Alright, well I'm sure Jay and I will see you around. Later guys." The social interaction ended somewhat abruptly, and I was left dazed. When I turned to look at Misha I saw he was several steps ahead of me and saying, "Come on, Jay!" I quickly caught up to him, the fur on the back of my neck bristling. "Are they friends of yours?" I asked. My voice was harsher than I would have liked to sound. "They're just giving you a hard time because you're different, an outsider." Misha sighed as he turned and smiled at me, "They're good people, I promise. They're just afraid of you. They don't know what to think of you yet." I still felt uncomfortable, but I followed Misha to the other side of the dome where we entered a glass tunnel that had a view out to the forest. "Do your people have a settlement around here?" I asked. "Settlement?" "Oh. Is this a settlement?" I was confused, "Do people live here?" "Oh! You mean a village? No, this isn't a village. In fact," Misha pointed out towards the mountains, "The closest village, Eldon, is actually through that pass in the mountains there. The employees live here, but no one else. Most of them either have no families, or their families stay here." "It seems isolated." I mused, staring out towards the mountains. "Sometimes the employees visit town, but typically they use some sort of animal to get there. Or magic users teleport, but that's quite difficult." My ears perked up, a reaction that startled me slightly. I was very curious about learning more about magic. In my home...we relied on technology instead of magic, they said it was better that way. Magic users were cast out, exiled, laughed at, shunned... "You think you're from Eldon?" Misha's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Oh, maybe." I lied, "Details are still hazy." We wound through hallways and crossed through doors. Misha pointed things out to me, the dining hall, the medical wing for injured employees, the library, the gym...I was curious about them, but I would have rather explored outside. I was sick of being imprisoned.
"And if you get lost need help, or need to pick up the paperwork that goes with an assignment, the information deck is right up here!" Misha gestured as we walked up a set of spiral stairs, which led to a large platform that had a glass room with a lounge overlooking the main entrance. On the other side, where there was a solid wall, there was a square cut out of the wall and about six people sitting behind computers. "Just talk to one of these people if you need anything. There is always someone at the desk." Misha explained. I nodded, avoiding eye contact with all six of the humans who were staring at me.
"Hey, Misha. It's been quite some time since we've seen you out of the basement." One man said, "Who's this?" He seemed much nicer than the last people we encountered. Slowly, I met his gaze. "This is Jay!" Misha gestured to me, "Jay, meet Kato." I looked at Kato. His eyes were bright and warm and shined a bright gold color. His hair matched his golden eyes with a dusty, rich blonde. He seemed friendly. I slowly reached out my hand towards his muscled, outstretched arm. "Nice to meet you!" He exclaimed. "I've heard about you from Misha. I'm glad you two could finally get out here to introduce me to you." He grinned, shaking my hand rigorously. I withdrew as Misha laughed, "Yeah, well, he needed to heal up first, and I've been busy, being a geneticist and all." "Yeah, at least he doesn't have to play information desk attendant while he heals." Kato sighed, pointing to a bandaged arm, "Luckily this is my last day in here!" I rubbed my hands together as they chat for a bit, wondering what exactly Misha did here. "Well, guess it's time to introduce him to the big man, eh?" Kato asked. "No...No." Misha shook his head. His tone was serious, "Not yet. He will need to be prepared for training the day that he meets the boss. You understand?" Kato nodded, "I see." They both noticed my concerned look, and Kato winked at me. "No worries, kid. You'll do great!" Misha nodded, "He's right. Nothing to worry about. I'll explain more later. Let's go back down to your room, you're probably pretty tired by now." I hadn't noticed before, but he was right. I felt exhausted. We walked down the stairs and towards the elevator again. "Misha." I stopped walking. He continued, "Yes, Jay?" I stood still until he finally stopped and turned back towards me, "What's wrong?" "I do not want to be locked up down there again." I looked towards the ground. Gods, I was such a coward. "You said I wouldn't have to be." "I have to talk with my boss, Jay, but I promise I'll get you a nicer place in the next few days. When we get back I won't bind your arm. Soon, you'll go meet my boss!" Misha smiled, "If he hires you, you'll have your own room overlooking the mountains or the valley, whichever you prefer. If he does not, you'll be let free. I promise." I sighed. I didn't want to run away, but I felt nervous. I tried to trust Misha, but I was afraid. "Sure, Misha." I finally relented, stepping forward and following him back to my room.